"From Diagnosis to Dialogue: April's Story"

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
I am thank you for having me on your flat.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Teak most ovable. April has also had our good friend
Sam Mitchell hosted Autism Rocks and Rolls and the One
the Only Doctor fu Jane as well. So let's say listen,
that's even great. So April, why don't you tell her
you a little bit more about yourself?

Speaker 3 (00:31):
So I am a forty nine autistic occupational therapist, and
I didn't discover I was autistic until I went on
this podcasting journey.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
So there's that.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
I'm late diagnosed. My entire family except for my sister,
is autistic. Found out my nephew is an AUDI, so
he's autistic and ADHD. Other than that, I run this
podcast and I still work full time as an occupational therapist.
Pediatrics my field absolutely not. I like old people and
my I love dementia and Alzheimer's patients and of course

(01:05):
my autistic people.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
Can I ask why that is you like the older crowd.
Is it just you're so interested by it at alone,
just like how how it progresses.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
It was because of my own grandmother's I had a
grandmother live with Parkinson's on her own until she was
ninety seven, and my other grandmother lived on her own
until she was eighty eight, and just because they were
still very fiercely independent, and I feel like all the
elderly can.

Speaker 1 (01:30):
Be fiercely independent.

Speaker 3 (01:32):
Everybody has this mindset of the elderly can't do for themselves,
and I'm like, I don't understand why y'all think that,
because my grandmothers lived in their own homes.

Speaker 1 (01:41):
One of them lived out in the middle.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Of nowhere and a house her husband built, and they
were sharecroppers. So I just loved the elderly and I
loved being with them. And once they hit a certain age,
their filters go away and it's a home new world
when you're going to long term care and they just

(02:03):
spew it like it is and.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I'm like, the filters come off, so it's fun.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
So, first off, that's great. I'm so excited for you.
Those podcasts has over too many downloads, you know, which
is just an accomplishment in itself. Other people, you know,
a couple other people that have like those mass of
my numbers. And you're still working though, which is so
interesting too, because people were like, well, if you do
all those podcasting, how are you still working. I'm like,
you know, she's got it down for the system. That's
a boss woman right there. That's what that is.

Speaker 1 (02:29):
It's a hustle.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
That first year was it's a hustle and if you
keep doing it that way, you'll burn out. But I
was lucky enough to have time in between and the
support of my fiance and my kids support saying, Mom,
keep doing it. And I kept doing it, and my
wonderful guests kept me going because they're like, you're doing

(02:51):
something that there's not out there. There's not enough support
for autistic young adults and they need that voice. And
the more I got into it, there's not enough for
our ADHD young adults or the audis, and I love
calling them Audi's.

Speaker 1 (03:05):
It reminds me of the cars.

Speaker 3 (03:06):
So those of you that are Audi's, compare yourselves to cars.
There's just not enough voicing out there, right high model cars.
You're not just the Volkswagen, you're the high esteem car.

Speaker 2 (03:18):
Let me ask you a question, though, Why do you
feel people look down on people with autism? Is because
they don't know enough. I probably honestly hitting it right
on the head. It's probably because they don't know enough
about it. They just automatically assume because they're disabled they
can't do anything, like you know, the same thing with
the stigma about the older people that they can't do
anything for themselves.

Speaker 3 (03:35):
I think a lot of it is everybody loves kids,
and everybody focuses so much on kids. They forget that
they grow up and become adults and they I don't
know if it's because in everybody else's head, we get
them all the support when they're kids, and they think, Okay,
they're eighteen, they're good to go, and I'm like, that's

(03:57):
not how this works. People, That's not how any of
this works. They still need support when they are transitioning
into adulthood. I'm like, if the neurotypical brain does not
fully form until twenty five the maturity, what do you
think is going to happen to the neurodivergent brain that's
behind their neurotypical peers.

Speaker 2 (04:17):
No, I agree it should meet you.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
I mean, so case in point, I failed college five times.
It was thirty.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
Before I pulled the shit together before I hit college
again and did.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
It straight through six years.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
So if that tells you anything, and that was back
before you know, I was born in seventy six. I
didn't speak until I was two and a half. My
parents had no idea what was going on. I had speech.
I had no idea why I had speech. I thought
that was fun. So no idea until you know you
connect the dots and so here we are. But now

(04:53):
with my own kid, I'll watch typical fall.

Speaker 2 (04:56):
You know, what you know to people with autism, A
lot of them you meet, though I think a lot
of people underestimate them. But I think a lot of
those guys are smarter than most people realize, Like they
are very incredible people once you get to meet them.
And there's a young gentleman I met he was when
he was eleven. This kid could tell you every capital
in the world. You can point it a globe, and
this young man can name it all off. He would

(05:16):
just list them off and it was just so impressive.
I was just like wow, wow. And it's like then
you hear people like saying, oh, well, you know, because
we worked with some of these nerd divergent that works
with us. But right now, and it's like, you have
to remember when you're talking to these people, you can't
approach it the same way.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
You know.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
They don't they don't process the things the same way.
So like with him, it's like I asked him like, hey, listen,
what's the best way I can I can do something
for you to help you that way you can succeed.
And he, you know, he was really helpful help with
me because he was teaching me some things. I was like,
all right, man, that works. Whatever works best for you, you know,
let me know so I can we can make this
as smooth as as you make this seamless as possible.

(05:51):
That way, you don't feel like, you know, everybody's treating
you differently, because I want you to feel like a
normal person here. I don't want anybody to feel make
you feel different. You know, things like that, you know,
and all this kind of stuff like that. You and
I feel like, you know, when it comes to that,
a lot of people they're quick to judge. I mean, well, okay,
and honestly, it's a society. We are quick to judge it.
We don't know we just started making fun of people,
or we'll start saying things about them, and we don't

(06:11):
realize that. You know, there's a lot more things going
on than we tend to know.

Speaker 3 (06:15):
And the other thing is people tend the stereotype and
there's shows out there like The Good Doctor or The
Big Bang Theory, and I'm like, that's not high functioning
autism for a lot of people. I'm like, I'm autistic,
and people are like, well, I can't tell you're autistic.
I'm like, what's that look like? And I'm waiting for
their answer, and I'm like, it's not going to show you, right,

(06:39):
I'm like, I'll wait, and then they get embarrassed.

Speaker 2 (06:43):
Well, because people go based on TV. Remember now, like
you've made a good point, think you touched on like
these different shows. They're like they're just shows. Like people
take it and think it's real, like movies, you know,
like a lot of those movies about different mental health disorders.
So does Let's take a Beautiful Mind. I think it
was the best one so far I've seen that just
kind of like dictates a little bit. But not everybody
with schizophrenia just does that, you know. And I think

(07:03):
that's the crazy thing is everybody hears these things and
they just automatically assume what they already know. Well, they
all they're gonna you know, they're crazy. Not really. There's
a couple of people have had that have schizophrenia, don't
do these things that you see everybody's doing, right. I
think that's a great point though, is that it's not
what it looks like always. You know, it's great, you
could read a book all day, but when someone is
physically in front of you, everybody's symptoms are different. And

(07:23):
I think that's great when it run into different individuals
with these different things, I'd like to ask them, like, hey, listen,
what is it like for you? You know, because I'm
always curious to know how it is that what presents
for them, because you're always fascinating and to prove your
point of more is just like you know, not everybody's
the same, Like, listen, we're all my cookie cutters here, man,
it's not the same thing.

Speaker 3 (07:41):
Great, and people are always surprised. I work in healthcare
because I'm not always the most detail oriented, but once
I get in my field, i am there. I can
sit and poat you all day on some details because
that's what I love.

Speaker 1 (07:56):
It's what I do.

Speaker 3 (07:58):
Get me somewhere where I hate it and I'm like,
I don't know what you're talking about.

Speaker 2 (08:02):
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree, I agree, And that's I
think that's the thing with a lot of people is
that once you put these individuals in, it's something that
they excel at or they are very interested in. Watch
them go man like, they just take off and it's
it's great to see like and you love seeing that
for them when they start, you know, really just blossoming
because their personality really comes through, you know. And I
think a lot of people, you know, label them as

(08:23):
weird and things like that, and like, they're not weird.
They're just different than you. That's all it is. You know,
everything's weird nowadays. It's like, oh that's weird. M No, No,
they're just individuals. They're just they just think at a
different level than we do, you know, and a lot,
like I said, most of them are probably smart to
most of us, honestly.

Speaker 3 (08:39):
And honestly, what needs to happen among therapists, among teachers
is the paradigm needs to shift again because now you
need to play to their strengths.

Speaker 1 (08:51):
You can't teach them to mask. That's done.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Because now you've got parents figuring out, oh I'm autistic.
I'm autistic too. You got parents figuring out they're autistic.
So I did a speech right before my podcast really
took off to a bunch of students. I went just
you know, at my alma mater, and they're just sitting
there board and their first year students, and they all
want to do peeds. And I'm like, all right, don't

(09:16):
take notes. But when you get out of school and
you want to do these peeds, you're gonna encounter these
autistic parents with a chip on their shoulder, and they're
gonna want results because they already know what works now
doesn't work. They want to know what are you going
to do for my kid when school was done? And
I need them to transition, and You're not gonna have answers.

(09:36):
I'm like, you're You're already far behind.

Speaker 2 (09:39):
So April, let me ask you a question though, what
started your podcast? Like what was that defining moment where
you're like, you know what I can help other people?
You know? And you like you said you were late
diagnoses with autism. So was this during your podcast you
found out you had autism? Or was this before it?

Speaker 3 (09:53):
No, it was when I was doing my podcast because
my son had failed out of too colleges and he
burn badly and the only reason I sent him to
certain colleges was because they were in state. One of
them had an OT program, and I thought, Okay, they
have a no T program, He'll be fine. Crash burn.

(10:14):
It was the most He was so traumatized from that experience.
And then when he went to another college, they had
an autism program, but you have to test into it
and it costs as much as the tuition to get
for that program.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
I was like, who can afford that?

Speaker 3 (10:28):
So I was like looking for something to help my
kid transition into adulthood, a coaching something, and there was
nothing here in Kentucky. There was absolutely nothing. And I
was like, my kid was tend debt with nothing to
help him transition into adulthood. And I knew my background
was geriatrics, and I was like, this is some bullshit.

(10:50):
And I was like, no OT is going to do this. Okay, fine,
I'll do it. I don't even know how to start
a podcast. And then my fiance is like, well here's
Mike threw it at me and here we go.

Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know, for a lot of us, that's what it
is too, Like I didn't know how to think. This
is my almost my first year. I did when prior this,
when I did with the friends, I was just joking
around for a bit. But then I got serious when
we hit immense amount of health episode and that's when
it started talking defining the turn where I was like,
you know what, maybe we need to talk about this
stuff more, because when I did my research, I was like,
you know, like, who else is out there talking about this?

(11:20):
All these doctors, doctor doctor's like, but we're the regular
people out here just having a conversation with people. And
you know, it's the same thing with me too, is
I was like, going through this thing, I've been learning
new things about myself, you know, as a interview all
these different people and things like that too, you know,
which is great when I heard you say that though,
because it's like, you know, I bet you met that
one person that told you something you didn't know about yourself.
And I had that moment early on when I first

(11:41):
started doing interviews with doctor Tim Blake. He came on
and he's like, hey, Pete, let me ask you a question,
and he just like narrowed it down to the point.
I was like, doctor Tim, are you reading my mind
at this point? Man? He's like, no, I've just been
doing this so long. I can tell exactly based on
certain things you're saying in the way that you conduct yourself,
and you know the way you make people feel all
kind of trying to give me a feel inclue I

(12:01):
could tell that you were abandoned. I was like, dude,
it was so surreal because it's like, you know, he
was just telling things about myself that I don't tell.
I haven't told anybody when I started the show, and
I was just like, this is so cool to see.
And I got even more fascinated. So I just kept
expanding my horizon of different people come on the show,
and more and more people just keep in fighting, more
different people come because I'm like, I can't get enough
of it, you know, And it doesn't even feel like

(12:21):
a job. It's just like it's just great because a
lot of the people I run into, I still talk
to you today, Like I still have conversations daily with
a lot of my guests that were on the show too, So.

Speaker 1 (12:29):
Yeah, it's a it's a whole thing.

Speaker 3 (12:31):
I because what I want from my podcast is not
just a podcast.

Speaker 1 (12:35):
I want to create a movement.

Speaker 3 (12:37):
I've neuro the Virgin Voices, so they have somewhere that
they know they can go to get answers. And I
didn't see an ot doing it. I was like, well, fine,
I'll just do it. I don't even like talking, but okay,
you know, and.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
You're like, You're like, I don't like talking to people either.
I don't like people either. I'm like, hmm, I tell
meole like towel them. I'm like, I don't like people.
Are like really, I'm like, yeah about a podcast and like, wait,
what did you just say. It's like, yeah, we're on podcasts,
you know. And they're like, oh, what is it about?
And then when you tell people I love to look
on their faces when you tell them what your topic is,
they're like, oh really, it's it's great because a lot
of people are supportive. And then you get those one
people they're just like okay, yeah, I didn't know. This

(13:12):
is a conversational piece. Well yeah it is. We got
to talk about these things. Why not.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
A lot of people are like, oh, so is it
adult team with autism?

Speaker 1 (13:21):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (13:21):
Like I'm no, it's a whole conversation of we have
some young adults out here. Eighty percent of these people
don't work. We had a whole ass politician say.

Speaker 1 (13:32):
None of us will ever pay bills.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
Or have families. Well, I would like my taxes back
if that's the case, so we can fix this. It's
not just a national issue, it's a global issue.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
So no, I agree. I think I think what you're
doing is great. I think what you're making it push
the same thing I'm doing, pushing for people to talk
about their mental health more because we mentioned it. It's great.
Hey listen, school shooting happens. Okay, well you know that
was mental health. So what are we going to do about it? Well,
we're gonna shove it under rug and it's kind of play.
Worry about it later. Like but why but why think
about the base of most addictions is because a lot
of people are self medicating, you know, and things like

(14:06):
that too. It's like, you know, you know, it's a problem.
Like California was a pretty interesting situation, you know, with
their whole Well you can come to these stations and
do drugs there, But what are you doing, Like why
are you keeping curs?

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Why why are they doing the drugs? Exactly? Why are
they doing the drugs?

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Yeah? Actually listen, but you know what I'm saying, like
we're forcing that conversation or own respective field areas, you know,
like you're you're pushing autism. I'm pushing mental health and
I'm just like, it doesn't make any sense. It's like,
why don't we talk about these things more Like we
have all these doctors out here with these great podcasts
and things, but you know, like the regular people, we
need a place to talk to. And then that that's
what I offer for people to come I you know,
like I said, and you know and things. And it's

(14:42):
just like it boggles my mind a bit because it's
like we know it's an issue, but then we keep
shoveling it under the rug. And it's like why do
we keep doing that? Because nobody wants to face the
actual issues of like how many how many things are
actually out there? You know, we solve a lot of
these problems, we wouldn't have a lot of these issues
that we have now, you know, or we better educate
these people like you're doing, and then we could better
help these individuals succeed and be more successful. And I

(15:04):
feel like they're outcasts.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
In the world and they're not.

Speaker 3 (15:06):
They are so smart and you just have to play
to their strengths. I'm like, not everybody's going to learn
the same not everybody's going to mature the same, quit
shaming their parents.

Speaker 1 (15:18):
Stop it.

Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, well a lot of touch on something. You just
said that everybody learns differently. We already knew that though,
think about it, because you know, when we were in school,
it was, oh, we had three different types of way
people's communicates. Some people are verbal, some are non verbal.
You know, it's like we knew that, so then why
don't we apply it to these guys here though, you know,
like let's help them succeed. Like you know, I don't
I don't get I just don't get it. Like maybe
we were just too smart for this conversation and we're

(15:41):
just like we get it, but the people don't understand it.

Speaker 3 (15:44):
This is what I always told my son, And follow
the money. If the money doesn't make sense, then you
know something is wrong, because unfortunately, when it comes to
public schools, they only are a lot of public schools
so much money. Every state runs everything different.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
Then when you get to.

Speaker 3 (16:00):
Every state, every county runs it different. And I'm like,
so that makes no sense because then you have one
county that has a lot of money in a school
system that can do these wonderful things, but then here
you have another county no money in a rural area
and you're gonna leave them out and stuff always and
it always does. It seems like the coasts get the

(16:24):
best research and it funnels in and by the time
the top research funnels in the middle, it's already behind.

Speaker 1 (16:32):
And then.

Speaker 3 (16:34):
But then it's even scarier because the United States is
behind globally in research.

Speaker 1 (16:40):
So there's that. I'm just saying.

Speaker 2 (16:45):
I'm just saying, you know, hey, light bull moment, we're
behind everybody else in case you didn't catch on to that.

Speaker 3 (16:51):
And I love my and I do love my field
occupational therapy, but I'm just saying, how long did it
take for my field to make Jerry a part of
the life arc? Yeah, we're still very pee heavy and
things like cerebral palsy, autism, it's a life arc. Do
we have that in our curriculum yet? Absolutely not. I

(17:15):
just talked with another one, would you like?

Speaker 2 (17:17):
I said, though, like, but you know, you made a
good point through though, like we know it's a problem,
we just don't choose to fix anything about it. But
it's like it's because these these you know, quote unquote
politicians we have. It's like, instead of making them work
for us, we're letting them do whatever they want to do.
And I know it's kind of I don't get political.
I'm not trying to. I'm just stating the fact as
it is, because it's it's always noted that mental health

(17:38):
shows up, and then it's like everybody gets quiet. Like
it's like somebody went in a room made a racist
comment to a group of whatever general group you want
to pick, and then it was like every got quiet
because they're like, oh my god, he said that, you
know kind of thing, and it's like it shouldn't be
like that though, you know, it's like we need to
do better for our people too, like we need to
start helping these other people that may be different than
everybody else, you know, succeed in life and you know,

(18:01):
and stop, you know, months to stop, do you I'm
trying to think what's say now at this point? Damn,
I can't think. I won't trying to think. But you
know what I mean, it's it's just like I just
don't get it, Like you know, it's like, but but
I love what you're doing though, But I gotta be honest,
I really do love the fact that you're you're pushing
for these individuals to have that space to come and
at least, you know, help people because a lot of
people don't know where to go. And now I can

(18:21):
use your show's resource. Hey, listen, I got a friend
in April. She runs this podcast. You know, check it out.
Let me know what you think. She's great. It's great
advice things like that too, you know. And the other
term I get to is met at doctor Kristen Williams.
She calls it neurospicy. I thought that was interesting too,
because she was I love her. I don't know if
you have the honor of having her yet, but she

(18:41):
was awesome.

Speaker 1 (18:42):
I did. I sent her a T shirt. She's got
a T shirt.

Speaker 2 (18:45):
I love her. She's great. She's great. I love doctor Christen.
She's great. She's actually going to be back because she
wrote a book, so she's coming back to talk about
her book and everything too. But when I met her,
she was probably the most interesting individual law because the
way she was just like talking about it and the things,
you know, and I was like, I love it. I
love like you know, the language. Shoot, I love call
it neurospicy and people just look at me weird, but
I say it, and I'm like, yeah, you know, he's

(19:06):
just neurospicy, and they're just like, what is the meaning.
I'm like, oh, yeah, this is a new thing I
learned from a friend of mine. You know, she refers
to it as neurospicy, and they're just like, oh, okay, yeah,
looking weird.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
Like a lot of people probably listen to my podcasts
and they're like she she messes up and half edits Yeah,
because that's that's how That's just how I function. If
you look at my YouTube, you're going to see all
my face. You see my face. Sometimes it's flat, sometimes
it's not. That's just who I am. I'm not going
to put on a performance for you. If my face

(19:38):
looks flat, I'm not going to sit there and smile
and do this. Now.

Speaker 1 (19:41):
I'm autistic. So if my face looks flat, well.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
You said, like you know, you're keeping authentic though, think
about it because you're like, oh, you know, I did
it things like okay, well you know, I'd rather be
real than fake, you know, honestly, Like you know, and
that was the one thing that got ap preaching me
when I got into this field. It's like, you know,
be just be authentic because people could read through that.
You know, a lot of people can, and I feel like, like
you know, a lot of people like, oh, we have
to edit everything. I'm like, hmm, but no, I think
that's the fun part of it. It's like when you

(20:04):
have those little goops, you can laugh at yourself a
bit because you're like, oh, that was hilarious. You know,
different fun moments you have as you go, you know,
and things like that too, you know. And then at
the same time, like when we get into a serious conversation,
like you know, with it being suicide Awareness month, I
had done an episode with another woman and she didn't
like part of some of the conversation where we with something.

(20:25):
I said. I was like, cool, we're gonna re move
it right away, Like I don't have a problem removing that.
Like if you're not if if it's not a fifty
to fifty thing or you're not feeling it, I'm okay
with it. I'll take it out, listen to it and
tell you if it works or not. And it did,
you know. I pulled the part out and we were
both happy with it, you know, and things like that too,
so you know, but since you know, since we have
the one, the only April on here, April, can you

(20:47):
give some people advice like what if they run into
somebody that is autistic, can you give them some advice,
like better ways for them to approach somebody so they
don't make them feel like a different person.

Speaker 3 (20:55):
So one piece of advice is if you met one
autistic person, you've met one not just person, and you
can always say how can I help you? What can
I do to make things better for you? They're that's it,
how can I help you? They will tell you straight
up they can advocate for themselves, and.

Speaker 2 (21:15):
You know what, and you make them feel like a
normal person too. You don't make them feel different. You're
just like, hey, listen, what's the best way to approach
you to help you succeed? You know? And I learned
that early on too, because I was asking doctor Christen
what I could do, you know, because I had an
injuries like that and I was asking for some advice,
and I was like, you know, and that's all I
kept getting with a lot of people are saying just
just ask them. I'm like, all right, cool, because I'm
very very careful when it comes to that. Even even

(21:37):
if you know people that are transgendering things like that too,
that different have different like, you know, different, you know,
whatever their pronouns. They would like, I'm very very you know,
like respectful that I'm like, you know, so when I
approached him, I was like, listen, man, hey, listen, what's
the best way to do it? And I think, you know,
letting them letting them tell you what to do makes
them feel empowered because then you're not treating them as
if they don't have an opinion or you know, because
everybody doesn't learn the same way. I think that's the

(21:58):
greatest point of all is that, you know, you can
teach people the same thing, but it doesn't always work
that way because some people were hands on, some people
are non verbal, and you know, and and things like
that too, you know, and then when they succeed, Man,
I share a highair them on. Every time he did
something great, I was like, I was like amping it up.
I was like, dude, this is awesome. He just look
at me kind of weird at times, and he's like,
oh this man, one of those two you're doing great man,
And he was. He was doing the smallest things, you know.

(22:20):
I just want to make sure he knew that, hey, listen, man,
you're getting this. I like it and I kept hyping
them up and things like that too, you know, and
he loved it. He we had a great time, like
you know, and then when he started opening up, his
personality came through and it was it was just great,
like like making jokes to me and things like that,
and some people didn't get the jokes, which is okay.
I was like, are you just not it's not for you,
you know, pick your audience. You're just not his audience. Sorry.
We had our own little inside jokes and things like

(22:41):
that too, So it was really great, you know, because
everybody's like, oh, and like they were when they describe
him to like the weird kid, I'm like, you mean
you mean oh? And so like I give him a name,
it's like, we're not gonna call him weird. He's not weird.
He's just you know, he's just this person's name, you
know what I mean, Just insert their name. That's who
they are. Don't don't call him weird. That's not cool.
And if anybody disrespects him and things like that too,
would definitely be something cut off. I'm like, no, we're

(23:02):
not doing that. You're not gonna you're not gonna make
fun of this poor kid. Just because you don't like
what you see on the exterior. He's a nice, young gentleman,
you know, So don't don't do that to him. Don't
don't demon don't make him feel like he's an alien
of any sorts or anything kind of weird term anything.
You want to call him, You're gonna call him by
his name, and that's.

Speaker 1 (23:18):
It, right, And that's it.

Speaker 3 (23:20):
Just like my son is having a rough start at
Marshall and I'm like, just getting your teacher's faces. They
prefer you be in their face trying to learn the
material versus just sitting back there doing nothing, and it
shows you're trying.

Speaker 1 (23:36):
And I'm like, let them know you have autism.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
Well, congratulations on him getting in Marshall. That's awesome though.
That's so cool.

Speaker 1 (23:43):
Though.

Speaker 2 (23:43):
How's he liking it though? Other than that, is he
enjoying the campus life?

Speaker 3 (23:47):
Well, he enjoys being on his own, being on campus.
He feels like he's in a class where it's only
juniors and seniors typically. He's like, Mom, i feel like
I'm so behind. I'm like, sometimes you're giving to challenge.

Speaker 1 (24:00):
For a reason.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
And he's like, well, maybe I should just drop this class.
But he actually ran into the dean, who said, just
talk to your teacher. I was like, do you understand
that most people don't meet the dean of their college
until they're like way down into their program. So you're
there for a reason. And his teacher's like, hey, i'll
help you out.

Speaker 1 (24:22):
So I'm like, you're there for a reason. So he's like, okay,
I can do this.

Speaker 2 (24:26):
I was like, trailblazing. We're going to say he's trailblazing.
That's what he's doing over there.

Speaker 1 (24:30):
Yeah, that's what you did.

Speaker 2 (24:33):
What classes? He think? What classes he taking that he
was having trouble with.

Speaker 1 (24:37):
It's an auto CAD class. It's called c I T
two sixty.

Speaker 3 (24:41):
It looks like an AutoCAD and he's like, mom, I'm
not quite sure how to do this. I'm like, well,
you're talking barking up the wrong tree. I do health care.
Ask Jack GPT to help you. He's like, Jack GPT
doesn't know either.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
I was like, well, you asked your teacher because I
don't know either.

Speaker 2 (24:57):
That's what they're there for, like, use your resource you have.
They're sitting right there. They're glad that they want you
to ask questions. Now they may they may seem like
they're annoyed, but they want you to learn because that's
their their work. When you succeed basically, because it means
that they're teaching you exactly what you need to know
and you know, And that was the same thing when
I started podcasting like that, I was like, I don't
know what to do. I said, chet GVT was my
friend at that point. I mean that we were like

(25:19):
Batman and Robin. But that's so awesome to hear though
he's liking it, though he's doing good, he's you know,
because that's just proves with yet again that you know,
even because you're different than somebody else, do I mean,
you can't do it though that that's off to him.
I'm excited for him, though, is he is he thinking
about architecture? Is a career?

Speaker 3 (25:34):
He this kid, he was computer science with the emphasis
on video game design, so that's what he wants to
do and then he needs Yeah, he signed up to
be a foreign exchange student, so hopefully he can go
this summer.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Where's he trying to go?

Speaker 1 (25:51):
Soul Korea?

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Oh yeah, definitely got a good place to be. Yeah,
a lot of the games get made there though, Japan
and all those other places over there because they're so
tech forward for everything too. Yeah, you know, and I
hope he gets to go. Man, it's gonna be an
awesome experience. I'd love to go to Korea. That'd be
great though, just because you know, you see a lot
of these people that are over there and all the
different it's so different though. You know, maybe he'll like it,
you never know. I had a friend in high school.

(26:12):
He was big into you know, samurais and things like
that too, and people looked at him weird all the time.
I was like, that's just that's just George, man, that's
just who he is.

Speaker 3 (26:20):
You know.

Speaker 2 (26:20):
Let's art my buddy George over there. And he loved it.
He was so fascinating. He was learning how to speak
Japanese and things like that too, and he was he
had all these nuggets of truth about these things. And
it was so great to see him because he was like,
I say, George, would you learn today? Man? He's like, oh,
this is tell you about it and he just start
listening to these things up and it's so interesting to
see how deep he got into it because he loved it,
so oh he's gonna love it, especially video games heads

(26:42):
off to him. Man, I love it like this, and
I'm able to play something he makes one day, it'd
be awesome.

Speaker 3 (26:46):
My goal is to get to Soul Korea by fifty
So that's my goal.

Speaker 2 (26:50):
Yeah, that's what I'm saying, dude. That's how my bucket
list there and japand be great to go back to.
You know, I want to go check it. I want
to go back in because it was just it's just great,
like the sights of sounds, the weak things are different,
you know, it's just you know, and I tell you
all the time, I just want to go to seven levens,
and every really laughed on me. I was like, I
watch all these videos on YouTube and then these people
showing you the seven elevens. I'm like, yeah, I'm jealous already. Man.

(27:11):
That's my big peace, big excitement. It's like, I just
want to go to seven eleven in a different country
and see what they offer and things like that. So, April,
do you have any exciting guests coming up on the
show that we should know about? Any big names.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
Let's see. Let's see.

Speaker 3 (27:23):
Listen, I have so many guests like that. I'm already
I'm already pre recording all the way up until November.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
I've gone.

Speaker 3 (27:33):
I've gone from I've gone from two times a week
now to three. That's how many guests I have, so
stay tuned. Some of my guests, though, are pretty awesome.
We're getting now. Some people are like, this is a
lot of wu April. I'm like, listen, you can't always
be just one way. So if you believe in changing

(27:54):
your mindset, like a lot of Eastern philosophy comes flowing
into my podcast as well. For finances and sleep and
regulating your nervous system.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, yeah, that's good too. That's good too. Yeah. See,
I'm I'm recording up to December, but I'm doing like
multiple during the day, so I'm bulk recording a lot
of them, so content wise, i'd had to look at
where I'm at. Honestly, I've already started October seconds when
my next season starts, so I pushed out of season
one so this episode will show up in October though,
But I set up the format differently to drop because

(28:27):
I was doing live episodes, but then it was just
too much for me to do, so I was like,
you know what, I'm gonna change the format for season two.
We're gonna change this thing up. We're gonna mix it up,
you know. And I've I've had a couple people on
here and people are just like, Okay, that's great, Pete.
Like I had doctor j Bellingen, she's actually an expert
in VPD come on the show. She actually was one
of the first videos I started watching when I started
doing research for when I was starting to do the podcast,

(28:50):
I was looking up different things and somebody had mentioned
VPT and the first time I heard it, I was like,
what is that? Iams curious and the girl was explaining
it to me. It's like, oh, well, I want to
know some more about this, so lo and behold the
first YouTube I saw there. She was right there in
front of me. And then she came and was I
caught her on TikTok and I was just like, I
picture the show. I was like, hey, listen, doctor Jen
would be interested in being on my mental health podcast.
And she saw it and goes, looks right it Because

(29:12):
you can see on the screen and she's looking and
her eyes are falling that comment going yeah, I'll do it.
I'm like like, oh god, she said yes. Because me
and my wife had joked in the beginning, we were like, yeah, hey, listen,
what if she said yes to be in your show.
I was like, dude, I'd fucking die right now on
the floor, you know. But then you came and she
was so fucking cool though. It's like she was the
same exact person, and it was just like, you know,
I think, you know, what is it that don't meet

(29:33):
your heroes thing is kind of like a little overplayed right,
because it's like it how did you meet your hero?
Did you approach him in the wrong way? You know
what I mean, Like, you know, doctor Jen came on
and she's so so cold. She was so flattered by
the fact how excited I was for her to be there,
and she was like, oh, you're so sweet and you're
doing great things. And I'm just like, oh my god.
She just told me I'm doing great things, like you know,
it's like thing throwing and people were just like, what

(29:53):
are you so excited? I'm like, never mind, you just
don't get it, you know. But it's it's been exciting though,
because like some of the other top guests I've had,
I've had Hilly Russo host to holisteriously speaking, you know,
come on, and she was so cool too, Like, you know,
all these different people I meet are just just so
cool along the way, and I've got to meet some
rock stars along the way too, and then all these
other people and I'm still, like I said, I still

(30:14):
talk to a lot of them outside here all the time,
you know, and everything like that too. So it's great
because you make some new friends along the way and
then different people you find you have the same interest with,
and then you know, you can just flex and I'm like, yeah,
by the way, that's my friend over there, you know,
and they're just like laughing at you because you're like,
you're so excited to tell people about it.

Speaker 1 (30:29):
That's what's awesome.

Speaker 3 (30:30):
Like I talked to so many people around the globe
and it's awesome, and there's such professionals in their field.

Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's awesome.

Speaker 2 (30:38):
Yeah. Yeah, seeing like I said, you know, like you
had doctor Uganea and oh my god, I loved her.
She was so cool. She was she was so cool.
I'm not gonna lie. Like doctor v Jane was right
there my top five people that didn't know I wanted
on my show, but I had him on there. Like
when I met her, she came on and she was
so cool, had so knowledgeable, but at the same time,
she didn't make you feel like, you know, you were
you were less of a person because she was so

(30:59):
just level. I loved it about her. She was great.
I think the most interesting guests I've had to date
was the one that was the FBI Sleep Expert. She
came on and we were talking, and we were talking beforehand.
She was like, well, we can't talk about you know
that entity. I was like, yeah, no, I figured that.
I figure we'll touch out it for a second and
we're gonna jump away from that because you know. But
it was so cool to see because it's like, you know,
when we got off air, we were talking about what

(31:21):
she actually does and things like that too, and she
gave me a little more what she could tell me.
But it was so cool to see. It's like, wait,
what are you doing. It's like and she's studying people's
sleep and things like that too, and it's like, you know,
people don't think about it, but sleep is very important
to most people. And all that other kind of great
stuff too.

Speaker 3 (31:36):
Yeah, Like my favorite guests were like doctor Robert Millillo
who did all that brain balance buildings here nationally for
kids and now he's just doing a whole new I mean,
when I interviewed him, I was like, he was like
one of those OT moments, and I was like, I
should have brushed up on my neurology on the brain

(31:59):
right interview him and then saw Smith and doctor Matt Zarinsky,
all these people in their autism and ADHD and neurodiversity,
people I would have never knew were in.

Speaker 1 (32:10):
This field if I didn't get into podcasting.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
You know, That's the same thing I tell people too him,
Like I would if I would have told you where
I would have been in a year from now that
I've done as many episodes I've done this year, Like
I've done over well over one hundred and fifty plus
episodes in the first year, which is one of the
most podcasters do in two years, you know, and the
people I would have got to meet and the things
that you know would have happened, Like we had an
O shit moment at the beginning of the year. One

(32:34):
of my guests was telling Anybody's suicide idiation and he
was like, he was you could tell somebody was wrong
when you first met him, you know, like there's something wrong,
like and he just wasn't sure, and then he started
going into it, talking about how he lost his friend
to suicide, and I was like, okay, all right, I'm
like this kind of hinted at what he was about
to say. Next he was like, hey, Pee, can I
tell you something? It's like yeah, you know, man not
and he just started talking about it, and I was

(32:55):
just like, I think inside I was freaking out because
I'm like, oh God, we're gonna get canceled. YouTube's going
to kick us off. At the same time, it was
so interesting to see because it shook a lot of
people because people just weren't ready for that conversation when
you started talking about it, Like they were having mass panics,
like they thought Godzilla was crushing Tokyo again. Man, they're
freaking out, going, oh God, oh God, is he okay.
I'm like, yeah, he's okay, because he's talking to you,

(33:17):
lis you guys, He's really saying something to you.

Speaker 3 (33:19):
Because and these are real conversations that people need to
have and understand.

Speaker 2 (33:24):
With it being suicide Awareness Month April, do you have
any advice for anybody that may be feeling that way.
I know that it's a great, great resource. You know,
a lot of people are just scared to have the
conversation with people.

Speaker 1 (33:34):
Listen.

Speaker 3 (33:35):
I always tell my son, like, people are like you
taught your kid this? I was like, yes, And if
you have kids, be honest with them.

Speaker 1 (33:41):
Ask them.

Speaker 3 (33:42):
Ask your friends, hey, if they're feeling sad, hey, do
you think are you thinking about harming yourself? And if
they say yes, ask them. If they're having a plan,
you need to ask. They're calling out for help. And
I know it's a scary conversation. And I have had
this with my own son conversation when he was in
his teenage years. Because hormones go up and down, especially

(34:05):
with autism, they get especially when they've been bullied.

Speaker 1 (34:08):
Have the conversation you already know.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
Yeah, listen, maybe bulls. No, I'll go bully them. Okay,
I got them. I'll beat them up for him. I
got him. You just called me. I'll come them and
handle it. But no, I agree. I think that I
think that it's a great thing to ask questions. I
think people. I think that the end result that people
get scared because you're like, oh my god, what do
you think of doing something?

Speaker 1 (34:28):
You know?

Speaker 2 (34:29):
And it's like, you know, I think you're worried too.
Much about that you need to worry about if they
do have that plan, because if they're planning something, then
that's where you need to get them some help right away.
And you know, yes, look at you like they said,
that's why ninety days there too. For that reason. You
call them, get them on the phone, like listen, hey,
this is this person. Streame person with them now, don't
abandon them. I think that's the other thing people tend
to do a lot of times. They free don't know

(34:51):
you're right, but you gotta go ahead, tell him, tell maple,
tell them. Don't abandon them.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
Don't abandon them. I promise you, like if you have anxiety,
because it's going to kick your anxiety way way way
up because you're not going to know what to do,
what to say. Just stay with them, Just keep them talking,
ask them if they have a plan, and ask for backup.
Just stay with them and somebody will.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
Come see just keep them talking. And I think that's
but you know, like I said, that conversation comes up,
people start freaking out, get scared, or they don't listen
for the signs like people making jokes about death and too,
like oh I think about killing myself, you know, da
da da da or Harry carry is what I used
to tell people, I'm gonna go commit Harry Carey, you know,
and things like that too. And you know the other
thing too, people giving stulf away was a lot of

(35:34):
times people just get like these little things that you
don't realize are happening, you know, or you know. And
it's the same time, it's like sometimes just ask him
to what of my guests said he said, Just ask
him like, can you listen, are you considering suicide? Because
a lot of times when you ask him that question,
they'll send a shock to the system. You're like, whoa
wait a minute, am I really thinking about doing this?
You know. It's such a rough conversation though, I mean,

(35:54):
I know that's not fun to talk about, but I mean,
you'd rather not lose that person, especially with as males.
I love how you talking to your son already, because
you know, we don't want, we don't need any more statistics. Man,
eighty percent is way too many of you losing. And
you know things like that too, and it's just crazy.
Even even the beginning of this year, it was it
was already seventy eighty percent of males that were that
death was suicide was the reason for death for a

(36:15):
lot of them. And it's just like, god, dude, we
need to stop guys. We need to talk more, you know.
And that's the that's the thing I'm out here advocating
for two so people that men need to talk, like,
we just need to talk to each other. Man. Cut
this like oh your two sissy to talk about your
feelings kind of crap, and just you know, have a
conversation with somebody you know, and have a good resource
list of people, like people you can call if you
need help. I know I have that one friend. If

(36:35):
I call him at two in the morning his time,
he knows exactly something's going wrong. He's answering that phone
or he's calling me back in a heartbeat, and if
I don't pick up, it's a constant blowing up of
like yo, even I pocket down, he'll just keep calling me, Like, bro,
we've been good, okay, Well dude, you're not answering the phone.
What's up? Do I need to come find out where
you're at and come get you or do they need
to fly out there and come see you and come
visit you? Because you know it's you know, a lot

(36:57):
of times, Like I said, I don't really I don't
call people in the morning for any other reason that
unless I absolutely need that right.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
Right, And if you feel like you don't have any
body on discord.

Speaker 2 (37:05):
Yeah, definitely that too. There's a lot of good groups
out there too you can get a part of and
things like that as well, and things like that too.
So well, April, we're at the fun part of the conversation.
So I'm gonna ask you a question, okay, and I
want your honest answered. Don't lie to us now, okay,
we don't like if your mental health had a song,
what would that song be?

Speaker 1 (37:24):
Dynamite by BTS.

Speaker 2 (37:25):
She's like, I got this one, let's do it. You know,
it's interesting because that question actually asked my good friend
Gretchen shows her. She actually runs the podcast The Shit
That Goes On in Her Heads. She came on and
so I stole that one from her hijacking and it's
so great to get people's responses to it because it's like,
you know, people are like, oh wait, really, that's a
great question. What would my song be? You know, we
had Welcome to the Jungle was one of them. I

(37:46):
think the most interesting one to date. Was Susan snow
Still she said, rage against the machines. She was just
like I was like like Susan, Okay, all right, let's
see where're going with this girl?

Speaker 1 (37:54):
Okay?

Speaker 2 (37:55):
All right, April. So my next question for you, and
the question and the reason this whole podcast is it
if you could break this stigma about mental health, what
would that be like? And it's like anything that just
drives you absolutely nuts that you see on the internet, Like, guys,
stop stop flying into this misinformation that.

Speaker 1 (38:10):
There's something wrong with that person.

Speaker 3 (38:12):
Mental health does not define the person beneath.

Speaker 1 (38:15):
We're all human, y'all.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
Hear that? See what she said. I hope you all
listening in the back. She's telling you the facts or
stop treating people like they're different. April, Well, thank you
so much for coming today. If anybody wanted to reach
out to you, what's the best way to find you?
Obviously your podcast, but if they want to reach out directly,
Hey rachel Or I'm sorry, Hey April, Jesus, where am
I at today? If you like, if they want to
be on the show or reach out and trying to

(38:38):
be on the show, what's the best way to reach you?

Speaker 3 (38:40):
So get on my link tree and look up adulting
with Autism, has all my socials, my merch correct podcasts,
how to get on my podcast. I'm on IMDb, so
whatever that is.

Speaker 1 (38:53):
You listen.

Speaker 3 (38:54):
It's a whole process.

Speaker 1 (38:58):
It's finny of it.

Speaker 2 (39:01):
But yeah, I wanted to thank you so much for
coming today and hanging out with us, you know, and
doing this interview. Is great. I'm glad I could. I
got to have a little bit of your time. I'm
so glad you came. I'm so happy what you're doing.
I will definitely be checking it out too, just because
I'm gonna I'm interested about learning new things anyways, and
I'm definitely now I have a new resource add to
my tool kits. So I appreciate for what you're doing,
and you know, keep it going, man, I don't don't

(39:21):
let these people stop. You keep having those hope and
conversations with your son too. I love it. I take
that you know you're talking to him about his own
mental health and things. Tattoo is. It's going to just
benefit him later on in life.

Speaker 1 (39:31):
Thank you so much, and thank you for having me
as an honor.

Speaker 2 (39:34):
I appreciate it. Thank you so much. Guys, and as
I wrap up this episode of Pete for Sonxiety, guys,
you know where to find me. I'm on X all
the way down to TikTok, I'm on Spotify all the
way down to iHeart Radio. And as always say, it
costs nothing, absolutely nothing to be kind to somebody, one
kind act. You could do the same, save life for hell,
you can make their day. I'm Pete for his anxiety,
saying now I'm saying, don't ask you your days today,
say hey, how's your mental health today? That would be

(40:00):
if I were I would have died, and that then
were my respect don't have to arm, but I don't
think that would my

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