Autistic Culture Presents Late Diagnosis Club: How Jenna Left Public Schools After Discovering She Was Autistic
In this meeting of The Late Diagnosis Club, Dr Angela Kingdon welcomes Jenna Goldstein, a late-diagnosed Autistic school psychologist who left the public education system after recognising its incompatibility with neurodiversity-affirming practice.
Jenna first recognised her own autism after her three-year-old daughter was identified. As she turned to Autistic voices for understanding, what began as advocacy for her child became a deeper self-recognition. Within months, she self-identified, and years later sought a formal diagnosis from an Autistic evaluator to connect more dots and model an Autistic identity for her children.
This is a conversation about human rights, blueprint-building, leaving systems that harm, and crafting lives that actually work for autistic nervous systems.
🪑 Attendees
Chair: Dr Angela Kingdon — Author, community-builder, and Autistic advocate
Guest: Jenna Goldstein — late-diagnosed Autistic school psychologist; founder of ND3
You: The Listener!
🗒️ Meeting Agenda
- Opening remarks from the Chair
- Member introduction: Daughter’s diagnosis and late self-recognition
- Discussion: School psychology training and harmful autism narratives
- Unspoken agendas: Budgets, bias, and gatekeeping in public schools
- “Developmental delay” and the myth of the model child
- Leaving public schools and building ND3
- Neurodiversity-affirming family support
- Designing sustainable neurodivergent homes
🧾 Minutes from the Meeting
1️⃣ Opening Remarks
Angela introduces Jenna as a late-diagnosed Autistic school psychologist who recognised her own neurodivergence through parenting, and who ultimately left the public school system after concluding it was structurally incompatible with neurodiversity-affirming values.
2️⃣ Member Introduction: Jenna’s Story
Jenna first encountered autism when her three-year-old daughter was identified. Dissatisfied with deficit-based descriptions, she sought understanding directly from Autistic adults. As she read first hand accounts, she recognised herself.
She self-identified within six months and later pursued a formal diagnosis with autism, not out of doubt, but to deepen understanding and model Autistic identity for her children.
3️⃣ Discussion Highlights
- Autistic recognition: Learning from Autistic voices instead of textbooks
- Medical model critique: Rejecting “defective human” narratives
- Unspoken pressures: Budget constraints influencing eligibility decisions
- Gatekeeping language: “Developmental delay” as catch-all category
- System limits: Realising change from within has ceilings
- Private practice shift: Leaving public schools for ND3
- Human rights lens: Equal dignity for neurodivergent children
- Family sustainability: Peaks, valleys, flexibility, and regulation planning
- Blueprint building: Co-creating neurodivergent life models
4️⃣ Key Learnings
- Listening to autistic voices changes everything
- Training does not guarantee understanding
- Systems can be well-intentioned and still harmful
- Budget pressures quietly shape access to support
- Neutral framing reduces shame and blame
- Autistic pride is pride in humanity, not productivity
- Not all systems can be changed from within
- Sustainable lives require intentional design
- You are allowed to leave what harms you
📌 Notice Board
📣 Club Announcements
🎧 The Late Diagnosis Club is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.
💬 Join our online meetups and community at latediagnosis.club.
📌 Check the LDC Notice Board for Member Contributions
💜 There is a small charge — but no one is turned away for lack of funds.
🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com
🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com
📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast
🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.
🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.
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