Being “Pathologically Genuine”: with Dr. Jim Coleman
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Who is Dr. Jim Coleman and what shaped his journey to becoming a neurodiverse educator?
The primary purpose of Uniquely Human the Podcast is to educate and inform. The views expressed during all episodes are solely those of the individuals involved and do not constitute educational or medical advice. Listeners should consult with professionals familiar with each individual or family for specific guidance.
Uniquely Human the Podcast is produced by Elevated Studio. Music is graciously provided by Matt Savage of Savage Records.
Hi, I'm Dr. Barry Prezant, clinical scholar, researcher, and consultant on autism and neurodiversity, and a Brooklyn boy raised in the big city. And I'm Dave.
I'm none of those things, and I grew up on a farm in Illinois. But being on the spectrum myself, I have plenty of personal insight to lend.
And this is Uniquely Human, the podcast, a show that illuminates and celebrates autism and neurodiversity.
Today on Uniquely Human, the podcast, we have a very special guest, and that is Jim Coleman. Jim, welcome. Oh,
thank you so much, Barry. I'm really, I was really honored that you are having me as a guest. Thank you.
Well, it really is a pleasure, and I think our listeners are going to be absolutely taken and fascinated by your range of experiences and expertise. So let's kick it off, and I'll share some more about you.
Okay.
Jim currently serves as a semi-retired professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Okay.
And by the way, I spent a year at Chapel Hill a few years ago. He is also an outside affiliate of the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt University. And I have to interject that my son is beginning his residency in psychiatry at Vanderbilt in just... weeks from now, a few weeks. Oh, wow. Yeah, it's amazing. Jim is also a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a distinguished alumnus of the Yale School of the Environment. The principal or co-principal investigator on approximately $260 million of research, education, and research infrastructure, including gifts, grants, and contracts. In particular, and more recently, Jim has started a Substack page where he's writing a book telling a humorous story of navigating academia as an autistic person.
And I love the title, Pathologically Genuine. That's terrific. Perfect. For much of his life, Jim felt like a banana slug transported into the Mojave Desert without the appropriate evolutionary adaptations. And Jim, you've also shared that your late diagnosis transformed you by providing a context and a map in that you thought you were a messed up horse for 58 years. And then you discovered you're actually a zebra. Yeah. Yep, that's it. Love it. In addition to all of this, you partner with your therapy dog, Brea, at several different places to share time with autistic people or people recovering from mental illness. So you give back. Boy, that's huge. So what else can you add? Can you give us a bird's eye view of your journey that led you to what you're focusing on now?
And then we're really going to dig in.
Okay. Well, I mean, I'll just start real quickly. I was born in Pittsburgh and my parents played a huge role in my life. So my dad was a civil rights leader and an academic. And when he died, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called him the connective tissue of Pittsburgh. And he was also something I didn't learn until I started teaching again is how much I inherited his teaching ability. So One of the things he did is he cared. He cared about every one of his students and believed in every one of them. And I was really happy when I learned I inherited that. And then my mother was a special ed teacher in Pittsburgh's roughest schools. And my dad's personality was big and my mother wasn't. But when we died, we actually didn't know some of this until she died, that she was a founder of
one of the founders of the Society for Social Workers that work with transplant patients. And she had actually published a paper that she had never told us about, about how faith works. how faith helps people who are transplant patients heal. So anyway, so that's a little bit.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Dr. Jim Coleman and what shaped his journey to becoming a neurodiverse educator?
0:00–16:27
2
How did Jim’s late autism diagnosis change his self‑identity from a ‘banana slug’ to a ‘zebra’?
16:27–25:56
3
What teaching philosophies does Jim use to help neurodivergent students succeed?
25:56–35:58
4
How does therapy dog Brea support autistic children and people recovering from mental illness?
35:58–43:48
5
What challenges and strategies does Jim face while writing his memoir ‘Pathologically Genuine’?
43:48–51:59
6
Why does Jim view masking as a contextual tool rather than a personal flaw?
51:59–55:52
7
How can autistic professionals improve networking at large conferences?
55:52–1:01:41
8
What key lessons does Jim share about authenticity, vulnerability, and being ‘pathologically genuine’?
1:01:41–1:01:48
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Uniquely Human: The Podcast
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