Autism Guernsey has launched a podcast to help spread awareness and understanding about the disability.
The charity published the first episode of its ‘Let’s Talk about Autism’ podcast last week, with five more episodes set to follow over the next few months.
The charity’s Education Manager Martine Ellis, who hosts the show, said she hoped it would “bust some myths” and help people get a “wide understanding” of autism.
She told Express: “There are so many misconceptions out there about what autism actually is, but if you’ve met one autistic person, you’ve only met one autistic person.”
She said she wanted the podcast to be “really useful to as many people as possible”.
“Anybody who has some sort of interest in autism will get something out of it.”
Education tool
Mrs Ellis said she’s planning six initial episodes to see how well people respond to it, before deciding whether to continue.
It would sit alongside the charity’s other online educational resources, such as blog posts, explainers and videos, she said.
“I think of the podcast as one of the many kind of educational assets that we have.”
“It’s a different way of educating people.”
The first episode, ‘Let’s Really Talk About Autism’, is a “relaxed” introduction to “the basics of autism” with a “human angle”.
Future episodes will talk about things like autism in the workplace, being a parent of autisic children, and teenagers transitioning to adulthood.
While commercial podcasters might focus on the number of downloads, Mrs Ellis is more interested in “engagement” and conversations with listeners.
“What’s important to me is feedback from people who have listened,” she said.
“I really encourage them to make a contact with us and let us know, because that is how we all know if it’s landing.”
“I’d be particularly excited if people came back and said, ‘Love this episode, but have you ever thought about doing an episode about this?’ – that’s engagement.”
‘Let’s Talk about Autism’ podcast is available on Spotify and the Autism Guernsey website, and should be available on Apple Podcasts later in the year.