LIFESPAN

Autism Empowerment Podcast Amplifying Acceptance for All Abilities

After a multiple-year hiatus, the Autism Empowerment podcast (formerly Autism Empowerment Radio) relaunched on December 30th, 2020, and is better than ever! Spectrum Life Magazine recently checked in with Autism

Empowerment co-founders Karen and John Krejcha to learn all the details.

Congratulations! This has been a long time coming!

Karen: Thank you! We are ecstatic to be in the studio again. There is so much to share.

John: It’s been what? Six years since our last episode?

Karen: Pretty close. Autism Empowerment Radio (which I hosted) had its last episode on December 8th, 2014, and Autism and Scouting Radio’s last episode (which John hosted) was February 27th, 2015.

How many episodes did you produce?

Karen: Autism Empowerment Radio had 89 episodes and Autism and Scouting Radio had 48, so we had 137 shows between the two. A few of those were crossovers and replays. We were happy with the number of shows we produced at the time because we knew very little about podcasting back then. I recently learned at a podcasting conference in 2020 that most podcasts never produce more than 7 episodes. John: We were actually pretty prolific considering all the other things the nonprofit had going on. Autism Empowerment was founded on June 3rd, 2011. Autism Empowerment Radio launched June 14th, 2012, and Autism and Scouting Radio launched July 6th, 2012.

What was your format?

Karen: At the time, we were using a platform called BlogTalkRadio, and we were doing all our shows live with no editing. Most of our shows were interview-based where guests would call in. Although we’d prepare them in advance with proposed questions, the interviews themselves would develop organically from the answers people gave.

That could be pretty stressful, I’d imagine. What if the guest didn’t show up or didn’t want to talk?

Karen: Fortunately, we didn’t run into that very often. We tried to build a relationship with our guests ahead of time so they felt prepared. Many autistic people, myself included, are not big fans of talking on the phone. Knowing that, I always had a script prepared in advance with plenty of outs in case there were unforeseen circumstances like dropped calls or phone fright.

John: One thing we couldn’t prepare for back then was sound quality. Since our new podcast is recorded in advance, that’s going to be a huge improvement. We’ll also be able to edit out things like dead space, dogs barking, toilets flushing, etc.

With all those shows, why did your podcasts stop?

Karen: We both regret stopping. From the statistics we received, we had over 150,000 listens between the two programs, and the feedback we had received within the autistic and autism communities was positive. Unfortunately, we had no good way to sustain the podcast because Autism Empowerment was heavily involved in a variety of community outreach programs.

John: There is a learning curve to the nonprofit world. Coming from a neurodiverse family, Karen and I co-founded Autism Empowerment as a calling to serve people within the autism and disabilities communities. We were involved in a lot of different projects at the time that needed our attention. Although rewarding, the more we became involved in local outreach, the less time we could dedicate to live shows. People often don’t realize the amount of planning and work that takes place behind the scenes of a nonprofit organization. We found over time that we were spreading ourselves too thin and something had to go.

Karen: We didn’t want it to be the podcast. But we had to balance supporting our community with sustaining our

organization’s key programs. During that time period, we said “yes” to many requests to do in-person training and host support groups and special events. We intended to have a brief hiatus from the podcast, grow the organization (hopefully hiring people so we’d have extra support) and then bring it back when we had more resources.

John: And then came an opportunity with Spectrums Magazine. Karen had been on the Editorial Advisory Board since the magazine’s inception in 2013. When the founder, Courtney Freitag, decided to sell the publication, she came to us first to see if we wanted to keep the magazine going.

Karen: It was a great publication, so of course we wanted it to continue and not have our community lose this great resource. I mean, how difficult could it be to run a magazine, right? (Kidding!) Autism Empowerment acquired and began publishing Spectrums Magazine in 2016, and we changed the name to Spectrum Life Magazine in 2018. Although we had planned to bring back the podcast during that time, we just didn’t have the bandwidth.

Why is Autism Empowerment relaunching its podcast now?

Karen & John: The wrath of 2020! (Laughs)

John: With all the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought, we’ve had time to reflect and assess our personal priorities as well as what strengths and talents Karen and I want to bring to Autism Empowerment and the people the organization serves.

When Autism Empowerment’s support groups, social clubs, service projects, and special events had to shut down in March 2020 due to the pandemic, we felt sad, guilty, frustrated, and a whole range of emotions. We prayed a lot about what direction the organization should go. Then Karen became sick with COVID-19, and the next six months were kind of a blur.

Karen: Yeah, that was really rough. (See Karen’s article about her experience with COVID-19 on page 7.) Throughout that ordeal, we were reminded that we were not equipped nor meant to be everything to everyone despite our best intentions and wanting to help as many people as possible. I kept having to tell myself to let go and give my concerns to God.

Once I did, the next steps on our path became clear. Our experience has shown we’re quite resourceful at curating content from a variety of sources. Over the years, we’ve made many positive connections with self-advocates, parent advocates, educators, professional providers, foundations, and other nonprofits. We’ve partnered successfully with people from all walks of life and been part of many disability-related coalitions. The Autism Empowerment Podcast and Spectrum Life Magazine give us positive venues to share what we’ve learned and to shine a light on the challenges, successes and strengths of others.

John: Autism Empowerment turns 10 years old on June 3rd, 2021. We have always felt called to expand the organization nationally. Both Spectrum Life Magazine and the podcast can be developed to reach national audiences. The podcast is a great vessel for that expansion.

Who is the podcast targeted to?

Karen: Autistic adults, parents and caregivers, family members, educators, service providers, and allies. We’re essentially hoping to reach the same audience that would be likely to read and learn from Spectrum Life Magazine.

John: We’re all lifelong learners, so on a broad level, the podcast is for those who want to learn more about supporting themselves and those they love from a strengths-based perspective. We want people to come away from the podcast feeling welcome, accepted and hopeful. When we chose a podcast category for listeners to find us, we picked Education: Self Improvement as our first choice and Society and Culture as a second. We recognize the autism spectrum is diverse and will be including discussions that embrace a variety of perspectives.

Karen: We don’t expect to have all the answers or to be able to meet everyone’s needs but we do want to promote a culture of acceptance, enrichment, inspiration, and empowerment. We want people to know we “get” the ups and downs of an autism journey because it’s something we experience ourselves. We’re all on a journey, and although the roads we take will be different for each person, we aim to meet people where they’re at, providing help, support, and motivation along the way.

How often will the podcast be produced? Who are the hosts?

Karen: At this time, we’re planning to have new shows released each Monday and Thursday. Our episodes are going to include a combination of interviews, insights, inspiration, and storytelling. There isn’t any set time length. Most of our initial shows will be around 30 minutes long.

John: It’s important to us from an authenticity standpoint that the Autism Empowerment Podcast be autistic-led and disability-led. Karen is going to be the main host and will do the majority of the interviews. I will be the co-host and will actively participate in shows where we discuss articles from past and current Spectrum Life Magazine issues.

You mentioned Spectrum Life Magazine. What is the tie-in there?

Karen: There have been many great stories and interviews in Spectrum Life Magazine over the years. We want to give our listeners and readers an opportunity for that content to be available in a different format. With the magazine, there is only a limited amount of space. The podcast will allow us to discuss topics in more depth and do complementary and follow-up interviews.

John: And what’s great about that is that we will be including Show Notes and transcripts of each podcast. Since the magazine only comes out quarterly (currently), these transcripts will allow us to share additional blog articles on the SpectrumLife.org website.

What kind of topics will you discuss?

Karen: Here is our initial thinking. Our magazine has articles in six featured sections: Advocacy, Lifespan, Recreation, Education, Health & Wellness, and Therapy. Although our primary readers are autistic individuals, parents, and family members, there is a lot of diversity on the autism spectrum, so we try to include something in each issue that will appeal to a broad audience. Of course, not every article will be of interest to every reader, but most people find at least a few pieces to gain value from each issue. In the beginning, we expect many of our shows to have appeal to a broad audience. We’ll have quite a few interviews that share the great work that others do to support people in the autistic, autism, and disability communities.

It’s also important for us to do a deep dive on essential topics that come up frequently. That includes relationships, education, parenting, employment, housing, healthcare, advocacy, and safety. Many of these topics work well in a series format.

John: Yes. We’ve already had discussions about having Housing, Employment, and Advocacy as series sometime in later 2021. We really hope that people will subscribe to the show to help us gain more visibility.

Will you re-air past podcast episodes that might still be relevant?

Karen: Great question! Yes, we will. We need to edit and clean those shows up first but we will be rebroadcasting and doing updates on at least 20 episodes. Ones that immediately come to mind for me are interviews with autistic advocates Karla Fisher, Liane Holliday Willey, Stephen Shore, Jack Ori, and Jennifer Cook (formerly Cook O’Toole).

John: In addition to interviewing local and nationally known experts, we also had shows that highlighted services and supports provided by various autism and disability organizations. Some will need an update but it will be fun to mix old shows with new content.

How can we find the podcast?

Karen: Look for “Autism Empowerment Podcast” on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Podbean, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Please subscribe! You can also visit our new website www.autismempowermentpodcast.org for episodes, Show Notes, and transcripts.

Is there any other way to support the podcast?

John: Yes! Please subscribe, share with your friends and colleagues, and if you like what you hear, leave us a review so more people can find the show. Being a nonprofit, we can use financial support too. We have a Patreon account for the show and are also seeking sponsors and advertisers. For more information, visit our website or email us at podcast@autismempowerment.org.