The Autism Podcast - Interview with Callum Brazzo (on the topics of poetry and performance, autistic advocacy, mental health and more)

In Season 2, episode 6 of The Autism Podcast, Chris and James speak with Callum Brazzo, a well-known autistic performance poet based in Lincolnshire, UK. 

We talk about Callum's upbringing and the experiences that led him into poetry and performance, including his struggles with poor mental health and finally get diagnosed in his early 20s. He explains his journey towards coming full circle and becoming a leader in his community through supporting other autistic adults via his Autistic Led support group, his Autistic Lincs newspaper column and more. We also talk about language, social media discourse, his Tedx talks and he also performs two of his poems live for us, Nameless and The Energy Bulb.

 

Episode Timeline:

0 - 9.05: His schooling and upbringing experiences, experiencing poor mental health, expressing himself through his first songs and poems, publishing his first book, coming through circle through supporting others

9.06 - 16.27: Autistic Led support group, forming a community that he didn't have access to when he was younger, social progress and making impact on the next generation, filling the vacuum of autistic support in Lincolnshire

16.28 - 21.01: His experience of being diagnosed, the overwhelming emotional impact it had upon him, his Tedx talk, performing locally

21.02 - 25.59: Setting up the Autistic Led support group, getting funding, main conversational themes and activities

26.00 - 35.13: The impact that role models have had upon his life, the qualities and values that these role models had which worked for Callum,

35.14 - 39.35: Callum's fascination with words, the way his constructs his poetry

39.36 - 40.47: Performance of Nameless

40.48 - 53.43: learning about language and describing autism identity, autism in the news, looking at socio-cultural context behind people's actions, re-directing people's interests to tap into and realise potential, people are worth fussing about, inspirational porn, the need for a healthy social media discourse

53.44 - 58.26: The Autistic Lincs newspaper column Callum writes for, using the column as another method for giving people a voice, poetry writing as an outlet, Callum's book "Movement: Performance Poetry Written Down", what the The Energy Bulb poem is about

58.27 - 1.00.05: Performance of 'The Energy Bulb'

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Links

Callum's website: http://www.callumbrazzo.com/

His twitter: https://twitter.com/CallumBrazzo

Autistic Led support group: http://www.tonic-health.co.uk/AutisticLed.asp (and https://www.facebook.com/groups/287694928530440/)

Autistic Lincs column in Spalding Today newspaper: https://www.spaldingtoday.co.uk/news/autistic-lincs-the-challenges-we-face-9098067/

Callum's Tedx talk, 'Why we should make mountains out of molehills': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oq9vcfOMKHM&t=

Callum's Tedx talk, '10 YEARS OF TED TALKS – AUTISTICS IN CONVERSATION': https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJJ4j50ufFI