The Autism Wellbeing Podcast
Tired of podcasts that don’t sound like real life?
Welcome to The Autism Wellbeing Podcast — where real people sit on the sofa and talk honestly about life, autism, relationships, work, mess-ups, wins, and everything in between.
Expect laughter, straight-talking, powerful stories, and the kind of conversations you don’t usually hear out loud. No scripts. No pretending. Just community, connection, and proper human moments.
Made by the community members of The Autism Wellbeing Project CIC — this is your space, your voices, your stories.
Pull up a seat. You’re among friends.”
On 19 April, Jon and a few comrades are running the Manchester Marathon—not because he enjoys suffering (debatable), but to help raise awareness and quietly cause good trouble with Autism Wellbeing Project CIC. It’s his preferred method of advocacy: put the work in, start conversations, and push for a more humane, inclusive autism world—one mile at a time.
The Autism Wellbeing Podcast
Episode 18 - "Different Brain, Different Feet" - Megan's Story
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Joining Stephen on the show alongside Emma Eager, one of the Autism Wellbeing Project co-founders, we welcome for the first time onto the podcast our fellow AWP community member, Megan.
After her mental health worker said that she thought Megan was autistic, she was officially diagnosed as autistic in 2020 followed by an ADHD diagnosis in 2022. From describing herself as someone that would barely speak to anyone with her hood up and barely leave the house prior to meeting Emma, it's hard to believe that the person being interviewed is the same person.
Megan is such a bright and confident member of our community with such a brilliant sense of humour. You can't help but smile hearing some of her stories from how she now "can't shut up" thanks to meeting Emma five years ago post-diagnosis, all about her favourite food and talking about Megan's ultimate vibe check...talking about her feet!
Megan talks about what activities she loves doing at AWP, how much she can't stand spiders and tells our audience about the iconic 12 months of Megan calendar she gives to AWP every year!
Get in touch, we'd love to hear your thoughts
Want to know about The Autism Wellbeing Project and the amazing activities that are provided for free for autistic adults?
Come and be a part of our inclusive and welcoming community that supports over 300 people across the UK! For more information, please click for the link to our website here
Ready to go, everyone. It's that cucumber. Action! Hi everyone, welcome back to the AWP podcast. I'm your host, Stephen Jay Holler, and I hope I find you well on this gloriously sunny day. If you're listening to us, you can't see how sunny it is, you have to imagine it. But right here, if you're watching it, you'd be able to see the lighting's perfect anyway, so never mind. I hope you're enjoying the podcast series. We're doing really well. We've interviewed lots of very good guests, and we've got some more on our couch right here. Nervously sat before to welcoming you on. If you want to be a guest, then it autism wellbeing podcast at gmail.com is your place to reach out and give us an email. Let's introduce our guests. One person in particular has been on this more than anyone, haven't you?
SPEAKER_01Well, people might think I like to talk.
SPEAKER_00Do you don't?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a safe space, by the way. You can share anything with me.
SPEAKER_01I'm a very quiet person, aren't I, everyone?
SPEAKER_00Very timid. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Doesn't speak out all. Don't speak at all.
SPEAKER_00You must be comfortable on podcast because you're back again.
SPEAKER_01I am. I've come to drag Megan on. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh, is that your role today? Or pull me along? Enabler. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Enabler.
SPEAKER_00Well, just introduce yourself to the.
SPEAKER_01So I'm Emma. I'm one of the co-founders of the Autism Wellbeing project. So I'm responsible. It's quite scary.
SPEAKER_00I know it's alleged, isn't it? Well, thank you for everything you're doing. Thank you. You've done a really great job with this, and also I know you're enjoying the podcast as well, so you're always welcome. Trouble is brewing in the background.
SPEAKER_01Rude.
SPEAKER_00There you are. Now I've met you before, but the audience hasn't. So introduce yourself.
SPEAKER_01I'm Megan. Don't know else to say. Who are you? Who are you? I'm a person. You're a person.
SPEAKER_00A person with lived experience and all sorts of things to talk about. Yeah. So we've got to get really into the topics of why you're here. But before we go any further, we need to do a joke because it is customary at this time to break the ice.
SPEAKER_01Well, I did find one on Google. John thought it was very funny.
SPEAKER_00Oh, if John finds it funny, then we're in for a good one. Alright, make me laugh.
SPEAKER_01I got kidnapped by a mime. He did unspeakable things to me.
SPEAKER_00Oh I've got one.
SPEAKER_01I like it. I'll let that one breathe. Let it breathe. I was too fast.
unknownI've got one.
SPEAKER_00You're so keen. I can see where you get your reputation from.
SPEAKER_01Be quiet.
SPEAKER_00Anyway, what's your joke?
SPEAKER_01What do you call a magic dog?
SPEAKER_00A magic dog? I I wouldn't know. What is a magic dog?
SPEAKER_01A labracadabradoodle.
SPEAKER_00That sort of works. Calf likes it. Say it again. Labracadabra cadoodle. Labracadabradoodle. I like the fact it goes on longer though.
SPEAKER_01Or a labracadabrador.
SPEAKER_00That sounds like an ice cream now.
SPEAKER_01Whichever works. Any first one. Labrador.
SPEAKER_00It's more of a science experiment that's gone wrong, that one, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00But you know, if any of you have been affected by that joke, please reach out.
SPEAKER_01Sorry.
SPEAKER_00But anyway, welcome again to the podcast. So are you diagnosed autistic or ADHD? How long ago was that?
SPEAKER_01My autism one was November 2020, and I got diagnosed with ADHD March 22.
SPEAKER_00Right, so very quick succession then.
SPEAKER_01My autism one took three months.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01And my ADHD one took five months.
SPEAKER_00Because I know a lot of people who wait for very long time.
SPEAKER_01Quite speedy, mine was. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Who did you go with? NHS. NHS really? Mine was quite quick, mine. We found a success story.
SPEAKER_01Mine were really quick, mine were back then. Not now, but back then they were really speedy.
SPEAKER_00And how was the process for you then? Did it feel like a release? Did you need the diagnosis? Why did you go for it?
SPEAKER_01I didn't. My mental health worker said that she thinks might be autistic.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01I never thought about it. Turns out I am. And then you met me? Yeah. Five years ago now that. Was it five years? 2021. I met you. Yeah, so five years now. So tell Steve what you were like when I first met you. You told me HUD up, and I'd like to say I don't know to everything she asked me. How are you feeling? I don't know. Why is that? I don't know.
SPEAKER_00See, there's the joke section again.
SPEAKER_01So I had to do it. All the different things I don't know might mean with you, didn't I? So you had to do like, I do know and I don't want to tell you. What else was on it?
SPEAKER_02I do know, but I don't know how to say it.
SPEAKER_01I do know and I don't want to tell you.
SPEAKER_02Or I genuinely don't know.
SPEAKER_01So we had all of the different ways. That's pretty much what we did to start with, wasn't it? About three months. Meg sat with her hood up just saying, I don't know to everything everything. Everything she asked me.
SPEAKER_00Wow. And how's it now? Obviously you've worked on it and it's Oh god, I don't shut up now.
SPEAKER_01Don't shut up now.
SPEAKER_00Opened the floodgates, did you?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely open them. Feel some responsibility for unleashing this. She let it rip.
unknownShe let it rip.
SPEAKER_00And what does it mean to you to have this connection? Because I'm assuming before this it was a very difficult time to process and communicate. Was that the case?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01She's alright. Do you remember what you were like with people when I first met you? And I wouldn't speak to anyone that. And not just stay in my house all the day. And just haven't had no friends or really no mates. And now? Maybe be now. We can't shut you up. You can't. When I'm quiet now, everyone's concerned about me.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01I've had a good few messages when I'm quiet going, what's up with you? If I just don't feel like talking.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. We've met before, haven't we, a few times?
SPEAKER_01A few times, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and it has been a long spell. I remembered, oh my god, I haven't seen you for must have been a year, surely.
SPEAKER_01Went Edenwood fire.
SPEAKER_00We went to Evenwood for a nice meal.
SPEAKER_01Oh?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01I had a roast dinner. I was gonna say, what did you have? Because you'll remember what you had. I had had a roast dinner.
SPEAKER_00Was it a birthday or something? I can't remember what it was.
SPEAKER_01It might have been.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Nikita and Daniel came.
SPEAKER_00And one of the first things I remember when I first met you actually was your energy, your sheer determination, and your feet. You're funny as well.
SPEAKER_01Did I not tell you about my feet the first time I met you?
SPEAKER_00I can't remember, you know. Maybe that's been something I've blocked out over.
SPEAKER_01No one needs to know about Megan's feet. I'm a size five and a half and a three. So one foot to five and a half. And one foot's a three. And every time we go out on training, I tell everyone about my feet. She shows all the NHS doctors and nurses. My feet. My eyes bleaker.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, we could have said that at the beginning, eh? I could have done.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, did you know I've got different sized feet? When staff come here, they all see my feet. A bit of a vibe check for you, isn't it? If people are interested, then they're not. Then they're good. If they look at me like I'm disgusted, I'm like, you're not fit for us.
SPEAKER_00Oh really?
SPEAKER_01You've got to go.
SPEAKER_00So to be fair, that is a good test, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01It is. If they're disgusted by me feet, it's like, what the hell? I feel like it should be an interview question. I feel like it should be.
SPEAKER_00I wish I'd said that in my latest interview a couple of months ago, it would have got me the job.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00It's unique, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Is that my feet? Yeah. Grace.
SPEAKER_00Obviously, you've coped with the autism under AHD for most of your life. How old are you, if you don't mind? 26 now. 26. And obviously you've been diagnosed for about five years or so.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So how has that changed your life having this information? I don't know if it has. Really?
SPEAKER_01I just think you've changed from like when I met you to now. Yeah, because I'm all bubbly now.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_01But do you think some of that's understanding yourself a bit more as well? Could be, yeah.
SPEAKER_00When I was diagnosed, I never thought that it was going to change anything, but subtly it has because you're understanding the traits. Beforehand, you were sort of denying it, you were going, oh it can't be that. It shouldn't be that. And it is, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think a big thing for you is being meeting people that think like you and understand you. It's got my sense of humour. Your weird and wonderful sense of humour. Like John's got my sense of humour. Does he? It does. Like on par. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, interesting. What activities do you do at Porter's Wellbeing project?
SPEAKER_01I go to all the food ones.
SPEAKER_00Uh do you learn how to cook?
SPEAKER_01No, you get a free meal. You do do cooking as well. You do do cooking, but it's like the spoons meets and the booze fair, you get a free thing. If there's free food, like I'm there. Like I can cook, but I still can be cooking ones just to get a bit of free food. Just do anything for a free meal.
SPEAKER_00So at the end of the cooking class there's no food.
SPEAKER_01Because I've eaten it all. I will go to every one of the food ones.
SPEAKER_00Okay, what activities do you do? Actually, that's a good spoon.
SPEAKER_01Oh I do the well-being teams, don't I? You were on that last night, weren't you?
SPEAKER_02I was indeed.
SPEAKER_01You were? And try and do as much as I can. I do a lot of cover and things like that, but there's loads of activities going on, isn't it? Did the dance that fitness, didn't you? And the walk. Oh, you did, yes. Always the walk. Round Victoria Park.
SPEAKER_03Oh, lovely setting.
SPEAKER_01Nice, yeah. So I like getting out and doing the activities, but there's always loads going on, isn't there? No, I've only got breakfast. That was it. Breakfast. In the morning.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00And what does that consist of? Just meeting up and bacon and sausage butties. Bacon sausage.
SPEAKER_01I really love my food, I really do.
SPEAKER_00So it's lucky you're off for it then, isn't it? I suppose. I absolutely love food.
SPEAKER_01I had to bring her a cucumber today, didn't I?
SPEAKER_00Okay, can you explain this cucumber? Because I've walked in and you've got a cucumber in your hand. What's going on?
SPEAKER_01My favourite food.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01I'll I'll chop the hands off and eat it like a banana.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01Like I genuinely like I hold it like that. Chop the hand off and just eat it like that.
SPEAKER_00People who are listening, she's holding the cucumber aloft.
SPEAKER_01Got a really big cucumber. That is quite thick, isn't it? It's quite a thick one, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. So are you gonna wait till the end of the podcast and start nibbling or what's going on with that?
SPEAKER_01Probably.
SPEAKER_00Are you what you like with tarantulas? That's a sign for it, apparently.
SPEAKER_01No. It's not good with spider. No. I was in mine the other day, there was a tiny one, you couldn't even see it. I ran in the bathroom and shouted Roger help and he had to run downstairs thinking I was dying. It's a little bit dramatic. It was literally the smallest thing I've seen in my life. I was on my desk once and I felt something on my arm, I thought it was a piece of hair. It was this spider running up my arm. I stripped off naked in case it gone in my clothes and ran downstairs.
SPEAKER_00And then what happened to the spider?
SPEAKER_01I don't know. It must have gone somewhere, but I stripped naked in case it went in my clothes and ran down my stairs. That's one way to deal with it, I guess. I don't do spiders. Spiders are scary. Some people think spiders are cute. Have you really? Yeah, John's got a syringe.
SPEAKER_00Are you on uh medication? Uh totally off topic.
SPEAKER_01No, they took me off my ADHD meds. You couldn't tell. I think you need to tell Stephen about the Daily Crouton as well. We need to add you to it. We've got a group, chat me and my friend, called Daily Crouton. It's admin only, and every day we post a picture of a crouton. Mainly AI versions, but we posted Crouton every why not? Lou likes the word crouton. So Daily Crouton was born. It's been going for about a year and a half now.
SPEAKER_00I don't know what to do with that because I already get enough groups with things popping in with it.
SPEAKER_01Like once a day you will get a crouton, innit? There's it always a bit of a theme. Oh. Although we do like AI versions of it. Normally with a theme. And normally with people involved. Roger. Roger is a bowling ball. We've got some good ones. We once turned all the staff from AWP into croutons.
SPEAKER_00Really?
SPEAKER_01Off the newsletter.
SPEAKER_00And you like that?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm used to this. We get a calendar every year from Meg's as well. 12 months of Megan. There's some quite beautiful pictures. Do you like to talk everyone through your calendar? I don't know why I decided to do it one day. That one I actually took on the toilet. As you do. Smoody Megan. Oh, that was cute. That's when you did the sponsored walk. Oh, it was. Remember the first sponsored walk you did?
SPEAKER_02Oh my god, I was dying.
SPEAKER_01I had to drag around by a stick. We had to find me and Lou. That's my dog Lulu. That's me and Lou. Oh, you and Lou.
SPEAKER_00A bit foggy.
SPEAKER_01Presented with the calendar. Me and me vape. Some good pictures.
SPEAKER_00And last one. It's me and Roland. Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_01Me and Roland, Christmas Roland. Really got that. They've got one in the office as well. And they get another one next year. It's become a bit of a thing, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_03There you go.
SPEAKER_01Is that the turtle?
SPEAKER_02I used to put my hood up when I got in the mood and sit there with my hood up, and then I said it looked like I was a turtle with Michelle.
SPEAKER_01And then she'd slowly like come out of a hood. Like very slowly. Like a turtle. Yeah. When she got scared or angry. So now my nickname's turtle. The hood would go up. I've even got a turtle tattoo. For ages, all you got was turtle-related things, didn't you? Every birthday I'd get something with turtle on it. Every year. And now it's pickles. Pickles and seaweed. And Harry Potter. Seaweed. And Harry Potter. How many Harry Potter mugs have it got? 36 now.
SPEAKER_0036 Why?
SPEAKER_01I don't use them, I collect them.
SPEAKER_00Are you Harry Potter fan? Is that?
SPEAKER_01I absolutely love it.
SPEAKER_00What do you think of the new ones coming out?
SPEAKER_01It doesn't look the same. Obviously it's not the same.
SPEAKER_00It won't be the same, but you know, whether they're trying to capture a new feeling with it.
SPEAKER_01I've also bought a new Harry Potter Lego set. Don't ask, don't ask how much it was. It was £339.99. That's not too bad.
unknownWhat?
SPEAKER_01It's a collective item, isn't it? It's 37 bags in it and over 6,000 pieces. I'm from Yorkshire. To me, that is ridiculous.
SPEAKER_00No, it's fine. It's fine. That's a collect once it's built as well.
SPEAKER_01Getting a display cabinet for it for my spare bedroom.
SPEAKER_00You're just lucky there's no earthquakes in this country to break all the mugs and no, but I've got two nieces that might break it.
SPEAKER_01Oh no, really? What are you? You can get one with the keys so they can't get in it. Messy fingers will break that Lego set.
SPEAKER_00How old are they?
SPEAKER_01Four and three.
SPEAKER_00Oh wow.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely trash it if they go over there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, mini tornadoes there.
SPEAKER_01So they are not going near that Lego set ever. Not allowed.
SPEAKER_00I mean, it's great talking to you like this because I get to see you at your most quirky, you know, listening to these stories. I am really funny. Yeah, it's really good to have people like you who exist because that's the variety of life, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Imagine life almost. I can't, exactly. You've been around that long. That one you can't get rid of me.
SPEAKER_00Is this the impact she's had on you, the legacy?
SPEAKER_01I think I'm like stuck with Meg's for life. I even bring her Christmas dinner, don't I? On a Christmas day, she brought me Christmas dinner. Like meals on wheels. Which one was the best one though? Was it this year or last year? Last year, I don't want to say.
SPEAKER_03Oh, excellent.
SPEAKER_01It was a very nice last dinner. I think you've probably got several of my. Oh yeah, I don't think you've ever got them back, you know. I think I've still got them in my cupboard.
SPEAKER_00Well, at least you've kept them safe.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's the whole point, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01I've even got she got me a cucumber for my birthday once. A what? A cucumber for my birthday.
SPEAKER_00Cucumbers again.
SPEAKER_01And she wrote, like, drew a smiley face on it and wrote happy birthday. So I ate the cucumber but kept the wrapper. So the wrapper's in my memory box from like three years ago now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, that's great, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01John rocked up on the walk with it one day and just started waving a cucumber out.
SPEAKER_00I think I'm stepping into this world that's just been slightly away from my world. And it's like scratch the surface into another dimension, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01He is with me. But you have come a long, long way.
SPEAKER_00I was gonna ask that question.
SPEAKER_01You're not a pain.
SPEAKER_00You weren't a pain before, it's just you needed to refine.
SPEAKER_01I can't remember what it's that it has. We got in a mood with her one day and walked out of the room and booted a chair over. She did. I did boot a chair. But we've just carried on, haven't we?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01And now look at me. You've come such a long way. Now look at me.
SPEAKER_00Do you reckon you could be the poster child of the author's well-being project? She already is, with a talent, isn't that? Well, yeah, we limited edition. Can I get can't get a little bit more than a bit of a chance? You know, the success of what you do here with AWP and this is the success story you want to shout about, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I think when I first met you, you wouldn't even be in a room with anybody male. No wouldn't you remember that? No wouldn't. You didn't talk to anybody, you didn't really have friends, did you? No. And now, like when Roger started at AWP, I said he would never come into my house because it was a man. And now he's always at my house. He's even had his hand on my manhole. Maybe you need to elaborate about that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, can you go a little deeper? Not in the manhole.
SPEAKER_01Into the experience. Toilet was blocked. Brilliant. And the hard one out and fix it. So Roger got a pair of marigolds, got a brush, and went in the garden and shoveled out the dream. Yeah. He does deserve. So I got him a trophy. Say thank you for fixing the phone.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure you appreciated that.
SPEAKER_01I hope he did. That's above and beyond. I said that. I didn't even think he was gonna do that. We sat there pondering, he went, I reckon I could fix that. And went outside and did it. He's a brave man. This is the dedication of our staff, you see. There is, and I never used to comment. I'm always speaking to him now. You are? He kind of doesn't like it.
SPEAKER_00Well, John's more than a man, he's a god.
SPEAKER_01A god?
SPEAKER_00Yes.
SPEAKER_01Oh, don't boost his ego. He's our Yoda.
SPEAKER_00Don't boost his ego. We have to wrap things up. This has gone quick, hasn't it?
SPEAKER_01It has. It always does with this one, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00I really enjoy it. Time has no meaning when you're around. Well, yeah, thank you so much for coming and talking. So thank you for joining us on the sofa today. Are you coming back for part two? John's saying no. But yes, I would.
SPEAKER_03Oh excellent.
SPEAKER_00And obviously, you'll be coming back because you have to go everywhere and can't get rid of me, can you?
unknownNo.
SPEAKER_00But anyway, we're gonna let you go as well. But thank you so much, both of you, for spending time with me. And it's it's great to see the progress you've made and what the difference uh autism wellbeing project is done as well.
SPEAKER_01So it's on the head. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00And thank you for being here as well, being unique and special.
SPEAKER_01No, thanks.
SPEAKER_00And enjoy your corjet. Is it a corget cucumber? Cucumber, courgette. We call it cucumber all the time and corjet snuck in the.
SPEAKER_01No, I'm too I'm not passionate for Courgett.
SPEAKER_00What's the difference between a courgette and a cucumber? It's one thicker.
SPEAKER_01Cucumber you can eat raw, but you have to cook a corgette.
SPEAKER_00Oh, do you really? Well, thank you so much for joining us. Hope you've enjoyed the podcast. If you want to join us, be you want to use two on the sofa, then the email address is the autism wellbeing podcast at gmail.com. And if you listen in, then it's all in the description below. So thank you so much, and wherever you are, have a good day.
