On Presuming Competence and Interdependence, with Gyasi Burks-Abbott

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Uniquely Human: The Podcast 44 min 1 speaker 3 chapters transcribed 8 hours ago

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Who is Gyasi Burks‑Abbott and what is his background in autism advocacy?

Unknown 0:00

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.

Barry Prazant 0:39

Hi, I'm Dr. Barry Prezant, clinical scholar, researcher, and consultant on autism and neurodiversity, and a Brooklyn boy raised in the big

Unknown 0:49

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.

Barry Prazant 1:01

The podcast, a show that illuminates and celebrates autism and neurodiversity.

Barry Prazant 1:14

Today on Uniquely Human the Podcast, we are so thrilled to have back Jossie Burks Abbott. And he was a previous guest on the podcast before, talking about his wonderful book called My Mother's Apprentice and Autistic's Rites of Passage. But we're going to be talking about some other issues today, very important issues. So, Jossie, welcome again. To uniquely human the podcast. Great to have you on. Thanks for inviting me back. Absolutely. Um, so a little bit of uh background. Jossie is on the Faculty of Lend Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disabilities, and that's a program at Boston Children's Hospital and UMass Boston's Institute for Community Inclusion. He serves on the boards, committees, and commissions of many autism and disability organizations, and he's written for several autism and disability related publications.

Barry Prazant 2:13

Jossie graduated from McAllister College in St. Paul, Minnesota. And we were just talking about it's pretty cold up there, but it's cold in Boston as well. Um, and has a BA in English and Psychology and an MS Master's Science in Library and Information Science from Simmons University in Boston. Jossie tells the story of how he became an autism self-advocate in his autobiography and memoir titled My Mother's Apprentice and Autistics Rites of Passage and I would really encourage our listeners to read it. It's a a wonderful book. So let's begin again. Maybe for our listeners who did not hear you on on the last podcast that we had you on, um, share a little bit about your personal story and your journey.

Gyasi Burks-Abbott 3:02

Okay. Well, um well the last time I was on the podcast, I think I was about to turn fifty. Um now I'll be fifty two in May and um I'm a relatively late diagnosed autistic, not by today's standards, but I was diagnosed at seventeen uh right before my eighteenth birthday, so in nineteen ninety one. And that was after um going through several misdiagnoses, like I was in uh special education for a bit, then I was in regular classes, it was thought that I had a learning disability. When I was eleven I was diagnosed with autism residual state. Um my definitive diagnosis sort of coincided with an understanding in the United States of an autism spectrum. That's when Hans Asperger's work and Leo Klinger's work was published in the same anthology made available to the United States.

Gyasi Burks-Abbott 3:52

So uh since that time I've uh As a psych major, as you mentioned in my bio, I uh did research on um autism, uh, which led to me getting involved with autism organizations and uh I've done that and um I started getting involved with autism organizations and I basically have Well, I did I did have a job. Um I'm also a librarian from Simmons, as you mentioned. And I did have a job at a library assistant, but that led to a great deal of stress. I had a lot of problems on that job. There was a some misunderstandings and there was some conflict, so I wound up taking time off and going on disability and still doing volunteer work with um autism organizations and other civic organizations in my town. I live in Bedford and uh

Gyasi Burks-Abbott 4:43

My mom was an academic and uh she but she was in the humanities and she got interested in disability studies, so she dipped her toe into the social sciences and she interviewed me.