55: How to Parent Like an Autistic | Kelly Bron Johnson

Kelly Bron Johnson is an Autistic and Hard of Hearing self-advocate, speaker, author, and founder of Completely Inclusive and the Autistic Entrepreneurs Network. She and Emily hold nothing back as they talk about miscarriages, adoption, autism, inclusion, mental health, and schooling.

Quotes:

• “My biggest advice for anybody who wants to foster or adopt is the advice that I received from another adoptive mom is patience, persistence, and politeness.” – Kelly Bron Johnson
• “Well, I’m not really fine. It gave me answers and it gave me an identity and it helped me understand myself. But I wasn’t fine. I was still very anxious and still didn’t really know how to deal with a lot of it.” – Kelly Bron Johnson
• “I think everybody needs breaks. I think everybody needs an accommodation to some extent in terms of how they’re going to learn and where they’re going to learn.” – Kelly Bron Johnson
• “Mothers of Misfits is all about really busting the myth that there’s a one size fits all solution and with our kids and how they learn and how they operate in environments in which they thrive. It’s not one size fits all.” – Emily Melious
• “It turned out I actually have a very high IQ. I’ve got a borderline genius IQ which my eldest son shares. And I’m realizing the impacts of that now on my work in the sense that I had to hide my intelligence as well, because when I was to intelligent I got made fun of being too intelligent.” – Kelly Bron Johnson

Highlights:

• 1:38 – Kelly’s story
• 4:36 – Being diagnosed with autism
• 9:34 – Dealing with Autism in schools
• 11:53 – Long-term consequences of seclusion and restraint practices in school
• 18:35 – The child protective system in Canada
• 21:32 – Get in touch with Kelly