The AutSide Podcast

Today’s episode explores the psychological weight of receiving a new diagnosis or self-identification. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that gaining a name for one’s experience often brings a conflicting mix of profound relief and heavy expectation. Rather than immediately turning this new self-knowledge into a list of tasks or obligations, Dr. Hoerricks encourages a period of quiet observation and stillness. She challenges the societal pressure to transform every personal insight into an immediate plan of action. Ultimately, she advocates for maintaining personal agency and dignity by allowing one to exist with their discovery without feeling tethered to external demands.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/after-the-clearing-recognition-without
Let me know what you think.
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This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

A quiet conversation about safety, unmasking, and remembering forward—how the book begins before it is written, how voice returns when the ground becomes safe enough to stand on, and how meaning arrives whole, then unfolds.
This conversation felt like naming the shape of a week that arrived all at once. What looked from the outside like prolific writing was, in truth, groundwork—laying the field before the real project can stand. The book itself is beginning to take form, but what emerged in speaking with Cathy was the sense that I am not yet pitching the tent; I am preparing the estate it will live on. The idea of “remembering forward” sat quietly underneath everything—how the whole arrives first, fully formed in feeling, and then unfolds across essays, series, and strands that slowly make the larger structure visible.
We circled around unmasking, but not as confession or performance. What surfaced instead was safety—the recognition that masking is rarely choice so much as adaptation. As a gestalt processor, meaning arrives on its own timing, often inconveniently late by the standards of the world around me, and so masking becomes a way to survive economics, relationships, institutions. Over time, the mask can begin to feel like the truth, while the self behind it becomes suspect or defective. Speaking it aloud made clear that this series is not about fixing anything; it is about reclaiming legitimacy for a way of processing that has always been whole.
The conversation also pulled forward memories of safety lost and safety found—early experiences of accent and difference, the lessons learned about staying quiet, the years navigating environments where honesty or queerness carried risk. I found myself reflecting on how deeply survival shapes voice, and how often translation becomes necessary simply to remain employed or physically safe. At the same time, there was space to acknowledge privilege and complexity—the ways some identities are tolerated as quaint whilst others are marked as threat—and the responsibility to hold that awareness whilst speaking about inclusion.
What became clearer to me as we talked was that the current flow of writing exists because the ground beneath me has changed. There is enough stability now—professional, relational, structural—that the work can arrive without fragmentation. The essays are forming a sequence: unmasking first, then a reframing of executive functioning through time and kairos, and alongside it the relational strands exploring friendship and co-regulation as conditions for safety. Each piece feels less like argument and more like invitation, an attempt to build a field where recognition can happen quietly for those who need it.
By the end, the feeling was not closure but momentum. Cathy’s reflections reminded me that these writings ripple outward into classrooms, families, and lived encounters far beyond my own story. I left the conversation with a sense of direction for the month ahead: the unmasking arc, the encounter with resistance, the movement toward time and relationality—all already in motion. It felt like standing on the threshold of something large, not rushing, simply letting the next right piece arrive when it is ready.
The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s episode explores the concept of safety as an ecological atmosphere rather than a set of rigid rules. True security is described as a somatic shift where the body finally feels free to relax and exist without the constant burden of self-censorship or performance. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that merely identifying one's differences is insufficient if the surrounding environment continues to demand immediate justification or mask-wearing. Instead of focusing on individual fixes, Dr. Hoerricks emphasises the need to transform the social climates and power dynamics that dictate how we breathe and move. Ultimately, the goal is to cultivate spaces of genuine belonging where the nervous system can exist in peace without the necessity of a protective facade.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/after-the-clearing-what-safety-would
Let me know what you think.
The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

Today’s episode explores the profound psychological and ethical implications of masking, framing it as a learned survival mechanism rather than a natural trait. The author of the source article, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks, argues that individuals often adopt artificial personas to fit societal expectations of professionalism and maturity, often at the cost of their true selves. This process is described as a form of systemic conditioning where people suppress their authentic instincts to ensure safety and acceptance within their environments. Her writing emphasises that true self-discovery requires a deliberate pause to strip away these external pressures and "installed" behaviours. Ultimately, she advocates for an ethical approach to identity, ensuring that new labels or insights do not become another restrictive uniform for the individual to wear. This meditation serves as a quiet invitation to prioritise internal awareness over the performance of being "good with people."
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/clearing-the-decks-a-meditation-on
Let me know what you think.
The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe

In today’s episode, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks responds to an overwhelmingly positive reception from AutSide readers regarding her work on Gestalt Language Processing (GLP). Originally anticipating a small audience, Dr. Hoerricks describes a profound sense of community and mutual recognition that emerged after publishing her initial thoughts. This connection has led to a widespread public request for a comprehensive field guide to be developed into a formal book. She accepts this task with a sense of deep responsibility and humility, viewing the project as a shared effort to provide comfort to families and individuals. However, she emphasises that the writing process requires patience and organic growth rather than a rushed production schedule. Ultimately, her text serves as a grateful acknowledgement of a new collective journey toward understanding neurodivergent minds.
Here’s the link to the source article: https://open.substack.com/pub/autside/p/starting-where-meaning-lives-the
Let me know what you think.
The AutSide is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, consider becoming a paid subscriber.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit autside.substack.com/subscribe