The Otherness Podcast is a narrative exploring and engaging autism through experienced stories from those who have lived with it. Dr. Todd Peter Levine, a psychiatrist with a brother with autism, presents conversations, concepts and guests covering an array of interactions and experiences from those with or close to autism. It is the establishment of a voice to curate the stories that he feels have deep meaning for those people who are living with autism in their daily lives.
The Otherness Podcast started when Todd was with close friends on a boat and he asked for their advice on what a creative endeavor on a life spent in autism could look like. The idea of a podcast took shape and became a narration of family stories of autism. Todd remembers how the support of his friends started his path towards opening up the conversations he was having in his office treating children and adults with autism, “It was really the establishment of a voice, a narration to curate the stories that I knew would have deep meaning for those people that have lived with autism, whether they have autism themselves or whether they are family members of someone on the spectrum.”
Dr. Todd Peter Levine now has one season under his belt and as the second season has started, he is sharing more stories of what it means to feel the vast spectrum of feelings that include terror, rage, sadness, and pain that can create a venue to move into the humanity of autism and away from the diagnosis itself.
Todd believes “We define our children by who they are as humans. Then looking with the lens through which autism is viewed, while different, has a unique perspective that can actually open our minds up to humanity in a greater way.
“I feel everyone is on the autism spectrum to some degree and the official diagnosis comes from the realization that some of us have more struggles with how our minds and bodies respond differently to the social and non-social environment.”
The Otherness Podcast is also amplifying how the stories of living with autism have been much more important than any textbook, any medical journal or any lecture he’s ever been to. Todd also states “Most of these stories do not have happy endings, mostly because they are still being told.”
For season 2 and beyond, Todd wants to have people come on and share their stories, and ask questions that can get us to those places of vulnerability and resilience that many can relate to. He is particularly interested in those who have family members affected by autism and are affected by autism themselves.