Join Aut2Aut founder, Dr. Gal Schkolnik and guests, for an hour of autistic ranting and infordumping about the aggravating, the inexplicable, the unjust, and the infuriating, in all fields of life, one episode at a time.
Exact Sciences, such as Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology are things folks who consider themselves rational and logical assume can be trusted. And they would be, if scientists were as committed to facts and truth as most people believe they are. But scientists are only human, and some of them aren’t even autistic, gasp! Earlier in my life I had the privilege of pursuing an academic career in Natural Sciences. I did a BSc in Chemistry, a MSc in Environmental Chemistry and a PhD and Postdoc in Biophysical Chemistry. And in each of these fields I found hard-working, dedicated professors, who would base their calculations on “commonly accepted” values with dubious origins, reject valid findings from publications to scoop the author’s work and publish it as their own, and just plain fake entire research projects, findings and all. Join me as I spill the tea about science shenanigans, and on the way, you might even learn some random details about atmospheric aerosols, infrared spectroscopy and electroactive bacteria.
It’s true, everybody hates bureaucracy. Applying for housing, a visa, benefits, assistance, all entail torturously collecting documents, attempting to upload them to websites that may or may not work properly, filling forms with mystery fields that you don’t understand or with missing options, and horror of horrors, calling the authorities on the phone. I recently founded Aut2Aut, a nonprofit that aims to provide free digital platforms for and from the autistic community, and believe you me, the German authorities weren’t exactly going out of their ways to make it a seamless, easy process. So if you’ve ever stood powerless in the face of the powers that be, a half-filled form in one hand, and a phone that’s been on hold for the past 30 minutes in the other, and you want to feel less alone with your experience, or learn how to start a nonprofit in Germany, tune in and hear me rant about my most recent adventures.
Have you ever gone to the doctor with some symptoms and had them not find anything wrong with you? Or maybe you got sent home with an order to reduce your stress levels and have some tea? We’ve all run into medical staff who didn’t know we were autistic or what that even meant, who never suspected EDS, POTS, ME, endometriosis or auto-immune conditions. We went to them with dizziness and nausea, belly aches, GI symptoms, headaches, migraines, joint pain, all body pain, recurring colds, you name it! They either dismissed us right off or ran a battery of tests on us, but in the end, the conclusion was the same: go home, try to relax, and have some tea. There doesn’t seem to be anything medically wrong with you.
