Episode 52 | Recorded October 16, 2025
Guest: Freddie deBoer
Hosts: Jackie Kancir & Amy S.F. Lutz
Podcast: Autism Confidential
In this powerful conversation, Jackie Kancir and Amy Lutz speak with writer and academic Freddie deBoer to explore “The Gentrification of Severe Autism.” They discuss how autism discourse has been reshaped by those in positions of privilege, often erasing the lived experiences of individuals with the most profound support needs and their families.
This episode examines:
• How cultural narratives privilege those who can speak (and donate)
• The erasure of severe autism from public discourse
• How power and policy shape access to services
• Why the autism spectrum may need to be reconsidered
Timeline
00:00 – Introduction & Welcome
01:10 – Freddie deBoer shares his personal journey with psychiatric illness and disability culture
15:14 – “The face of autism” and the gentrification narrative
16:06 – DSM changes and nonprofit influence on autism categories
23:35 – The danger of flattening the autism spectrum and the superpower narrative
40:00 – The need to align advocacy between severe mental illness and severe autism
42:00 – Cultural and political discomfort with discussing severe autism (narrative consequences)
56:45 – Freddie shares about his debut novel The Mind Reels and why he wrote it
59:08 – ASD-1 vs ASD-0, identity vs reality of support needs
59:57 – The importance of difference in types of support
1:00:17 – Self-diagnosis, spectrum breadth, and discourse limitations
1:00:50 – Closing remarks
About the Guest
Freddie deBoer is a writer and academic whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, and more. He holds a PhD from Purdue University and is the author of several books on culture, education, and social justice.
Substack: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/
Books
• How Elites Ate the Social Justice Movement: https://amzn.to/47vHNmW
• The Cult of Smart: https://amzn.to/3KUODJW
• The Mind Reels: https://amzn.to/47v9snU
About the Hosts
Jackie Kancir is the executive director of the National Council on Severe Autism and Patient Advocacy Director for the SynGAP Research Fund. Drawing from her experience as a brain tumor survivor and mother to a daughter with severe autism and SynGAP1-rd, she drives healthcare reform through evidence-based policy change.
Substack: https://substack.com/@jkancir
Amy S.F. Lutz is a historian of medicine at Penn, vice president of the National Council on Severe Autism, and author of Chasing the Intact Mind: How the Severely Autistic and Intellectually Disabled Were Excluded from the Debates that Affect Them Most.
Substack: https://substack.com/@amysflutz
About NCSA
The National Council on Severe Autism (NCSA) is a nonprofit organization that advocates for recognition, policy, and solutions for individuals and families affected by severe autism and related disorders.
NCSA is a 501(c)(3) public charity | EIN: 83-0665732
https://www.NCSAutism.org
About Autism Confidential
The podcast from the National Council on Severe Autism. We shine a light on the hottest issues in the world of autism, including topics often shunned by conventional media. Who cares for autistic adults after their parents die? How can we fix our broken care system? What interventions help, or hurt? Join NCSA as we take on the hardest questions of autism with leading thinkers and doers.
https://www.autismconfidential.org
Listen on
• Spotify
• YouTube
Articles & Books Mentioned
• The Gentrification of Disability: https://freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/the-gentrification-of-disability
• New York Times: Should the Spectrum Be Split Apart?: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/01/health/autism-spectrum-neurodiversity-kennedy.html
• New York Times: The Spectrum Is Too Broad: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/opinion/autism-diagnosis-category-stigma.html
• USA Today: It’s a Different Way of Being: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/health-wellness/2025/09/24/families-not-convinced-theres-cure-for-autism/86293310007/
• New York Times: Learning to Cope With a Mind’s Taunting Voices: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/health/07lives.html
• Persuasion: RFK Was Right, Severe Autism Can Be Devastating: https://www.persuasion.community/p/rfk-was-right-severe-autism-can-be
• Chasing the Intact Mind: https://amzn.to/48CPp8i
• Christianity on the Spectrum: A Critical Analysis of Neurodiversity With Freddie deBoer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kGRfiDnb7UM
• Christianity on the Spectrum: Who Got Left Behind in the Autism Wars with Dr. Amy Lutz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VC8TSLl-wjw