You're listening to Well Now,

you're listening to Well Now, Slate's podcast on Health and Wellness.

I'm Maya Feller.

And I'm Kavita Patel.

Today's topic is broad in scope.

One that I really hope we can visit multiple times.

One episode, one podcast, will not do it justice.

It is a topic full of misinformation, misunderstanding, and missed opportunity.

We are talking today about autism, something that affects an estimated one in 36 children

according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So this is not a disease. It's rather a spectrum of neurological differences

with multiple presentations. We know that the autistic

is not monolithic and we want to acknowledge that understanding and

treatment will really evolve as we learn more.

It's true Maya and I think that the evolution arc is very long

because I'm just thinking about all the questions I have for today's episode and

so much that I'm reflecting on in my professional life, my personal life, but how has

autism shown up in your profession, Maya? How have you dealt with it and personally as well?

So in my work as a dietician,

I am often part of an interdisciplinary care team.

And we are working with folks who have higher needs so the

dietations on my team we actually go in home for services like activities of daily living related to cooking so

...