Episode 126: The Life Autistic — with Hunter Hansen

Hunter Hansen is an autistic content creator on YouTube and Instagram and a blogger on thelifeautistic.com. After discovering his autism in his late teens, Hunter tried to outgrow and suppress his autistic traits for years, until coming to terms and embracing his identity as an autistic adult. He has since turned that suppression into passion, advocating for greater understanding and appreciation of autism and autistic people. Hunter works for a major company as a business analyst and lives in the Denver area with his wife and three daughters.

During this episode, you will hear Hunter talk about:

• The origin of his blog — and why he decided to shift his blog’s initial focus and start writing about his autism
• What inspired him to start The Life Autistic channel on YouTube
• His process for creating his videos — and why he never runs out of idea topics
• How Instagram Reels helped him expand his audience further
• His advocacy goals for helping companies create better workplaces for autistic employees and get the most out of their autistic talent in a variety of jobs (not just coding and tech!)

Learn more about Hunter and follow his content on thelifeautistic.com blog, The Life Autistic YouTube channel, on Twitter, and on Instagram @the_life_autistic.

Read the “Bricks” post on The Life Autistic that Hunter mentions during this episode.

Subscribe to the FREE Beyond 6 Seconds newsletter for all the latest news and updates about my podcast!

The episode transcript is below.

Carolyn Kiel: Hello, and welcome to the Beyond 6 Seconds podcast. I’m your host, Carolyn Kiel. And I am so excited today to be here with my guest Hunter Hansen. Hunter is an autistic content creator on YouTube and Instagram and a blogger on TheLifeAutistic.com. After discovering his autism in his late teens, Hunter tried to outgrow and suppress his autistic traits for years until coming to terms and embracing his identity as an autistic adult.

He has since turned that suppression into passion, advocating for greater understanding and appreciation of autism and autistic people. Hunter works for a major company as a business analyst and lives in the Denver area with his wife and three daughters. Hunter, welcome to the podcast.

Hunter Hansen: Hey, thanks for having me. And I’m also excited to be here too.

Carolyn Kiel: Oh, so happy to have you here. So you’ve been a blogger for many years. I think it’s coming on until like a decade or something you’ve been writing for a long time. What kind of got you started with your blog?

Hunter Hansen:  Yeah, I. You know, I had done a lot of writing beforehand, just recreationally.

As my dogs will attest in the background here. I always had a way with words. I was an early start as a teenager doing music reviews back when like the MP3 scene was still new. So I’ve always enjoyed it. But as like a personal, like consistent blogging enterprise, I, I kind of pivoted more to my skills and interests at the time.

So it was primarily writing. It was “Writing All Wrong.” So I, I still have some email addresses and aliases by that title. And it was a fun, like, you know, kind of epistolary way to dispense writing knowledge. And I realized like, it just, it just wasn’t, it wasn’t going anywhere. It was a fun, creative thing to do, but after a while it just, just petered out.

But then yeah, that pivoted really big during kind of a, a low period in life to where I said, you know what? Let’s, let’s dust this off. Let’s rebrand it and let’s change it. And hey, why don’t we tell the world that I’m autistic and see what happens there. That was May, 2018 and here we are.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. So you mentioned in your, in your bio that you, you know, you were diagnosed, I think around the age of 16?

Hunter Hansen: 16ish, yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: And then for many years kind of tried to you know, just suppress it or you’re saying deny it. Was that up until like when you started writing about it on your blog at 2018 or so, was that the point where you were coming to terms with it?

Hunter Hansen: I was, I think there was a little bit leading up to it and I remember, I remember reading a tweet because again, I had gone through college, had gone through a lot of my adult life, just

you know, keeping it in the back pocket as like, this is something I don’t want to share with people. It’s misunderstood. I don’t quite understand it. I want to find ways to smooth it out and just exist as, as me. And it just didn’t really enter my mind as much. I was kind of ashamed of it. Then I remember reading some tweet about like, you know, people don’t outgrow autism, they just grow into better ways to cope and understand it.

And that kind of, I was like a small dull spark that began to light a very long fuse. And it got me thinking more about, maybe I have adapted to my autism. Like I’ve understood how to handle it better without even thinking. Just a lot of the things that I had done from a masking perspective, practice, scripting conversations, managing social situations, and anxieties were almost

indirect ways to like address a lot of like anxieties and difficulties being autistic without knowing like, Oh, Hey, I’m doing this as a product of my autism and not knowing why and not even bringing that up. So I remember, you know, it was after my middle child was born. And it was just a weird and sad convergence of a lot of just disappointing, depressing and upsetting factors to where, you know, I had to reckon with who I was as a person, as a professional, as a husband and as a father of now children instead of a child.

And I mean, it was, you know, you find, you find some truths in the pit. The truth was like, What, what am I hiding? Who am I really, maybe I need to undergo kind of a long catharsis to just be more of myself and to share more of that and to articulate that experience because it’s, I didn’t tie that into a lot of like depressive things back then, but I knew that like, maybe if I untangle this.

I can have a story to tell, and I couldn’t hide it behind any literary writing sophistry. I just told the story of me for what it was worth, what it would help, what it would uncover, maybe what I would learn along the way. And I mean, it was, I mean, that was the blog itself was like a long, a long cook. It was twice a week.

I wrote down like a ton of topics and it latched on, like, it just had a small following. It didn’t really explode, but it was a good exercise to where I could still, I could still write. You know, I enjoyed it. I was good at it. I’m still good with it. I’m not good in long form, but it was good to at least stay fresh, put words to paper and, you know, still tell that bit of a story, which has had some interesting consequences and impacts that I, I didn’t see and hadn’t suspected, but I’m glad I kept up the habit.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, it’s funny how sometimes it takes a, especially with content creation or I guess maybe doing a lot of, a lot of creative things. It just takes like years and years and lots of content and writing before it finally starts catching on or spreading and growing and, and

Hunter Hansen: yeah, it doesn’t do it in the way you think like the blog itself, it’s not like,

it’s not like, I mean, I’ve got it on sub stack just as a, like, just to have it there, but it’s not like it’s caught fire. It’s not, we’re not raking in hundreds of thousands of views. It still hasn’t, but it’s again, it’s like one of those I’m, you know, shaking a lot of brush, it’s sending up some embers that are just lighting different things in different arenas, which,

which is good. So I’m grateful for it. And I had feedback from a college roommate who, when I told him I was doing YouTube, he was like, are you still going to write? It’s like some of us just like reading and I’m like, well, I like writing. And I like reading too. And some topics are just better written than they are vlogged about.

So I’ve always, I’ve always had something to where, Hey, this would make a good tart little thing to where I can use my words instead of having to talk through it.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And so, you know, you’ve been writing now for several years, since 2018 about your, your life autistic. How do you feel like your writing about your life has kind of changed over time with your, about your perspectives on your own autism?

Hunter Hansen: Yeah. I remember writing it as more of a like general kind of explanation. Like, Hey, I’m going to explain more about autism. I’m going to explain more about types of support needs, but I’ve learned along the way, like, I actually found an older blog about high functioning autism, and I’m like, I. I’ve since learned that that’s just not the way to look at it.

It can actually be damaging. And I found like, Hey, here’s where I’ve actually suffered, you know, by dint of being considered too high functioning. So let’s, let’s undo that. So I’ve, I’ve taken it from like a learning perspective describing symptoms and more of like, how do I make this more like personal?

And I found that the things that I want to write that are more for me seem to resonate more like when I just tell, not just Hunter stories with an autistic takeaway or, Hey, here’s how autistic people do things. I can say, this is what I did. This is how I reacted at this birthday party. Here’s why I get disappointed about these things.

Hey, somebody showed up uninvited and well, the world didn’t cave in, but here’s what happened. And you know, I got new windows installed, so like weird little things that add more color and more context. I’ve been more brave and unafraid to make it more of a personal narrative, because that is it’s. That is it.

It is the life autistic. It’s I’m not I’m not an educator. People don’t come to me to learn about autism. They just want to know how it’s lived and what life looks like when you’re autistic.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And I think a lot of people, and I think you’ve, you’ve written about this or talked about this in your videos.

Like, it almost seems like autism, like I know myself, I, I know a lot of children with autism, but very few adults or I’m sure I know them, but I just don’t realize, you know, but yeah. So I think it’s important to have that perspective.

Hunter Hansen: I think it’s where, like, I, I joke there’s just a lot of the narrative is it’s dominated by, by allies.

That’s not a bad thing on the surface, but like you’re, you’re assessment is almost a hundred percent correct. Like I, I joke that in like the UK and in non-American English speaking countries, it’s about autistic people and adults, and here in the U S it’s the, the autistic people are all kids. And you only hear the stories from the adults’ perspective and I’m like, Where like, I I’m a grown-up am I the only, like, am I the oldest autistic person in the room,

I feel like? But no, we’re just undiagnosed. We just don’t know it because the, in one earlier interview I was told, I’m almost like the last of this generation of not realizing we’re autistic, you know, With kids. I think we’re just a little more woke to it. But instead of thinking like, wait a minute, what ha what would have happened if these kids were autistic 30 years ago?

Where are the adults? What happens? And now I think that’s beginning to shift, hoping it shifts a little quicker, but further, but nonetheless shifting the narrative to where, you know, we want to be able to articulate our experience. Not just for our own sake. I joke that like my ship hasn’t sailed, it has sunk, you know, but I can say, Hey, here’s how the next ships can sail better.

Here’s what happens when you actually know how you deal with, you know, and really support autistic children with various types of support needs. You know, if they’re in a gifted program, They can read the dictionary to age three, but they can’t tie their shoelaces. They’re not just like a genius or hyper-intelligent.

They may very well be autistic. And that has a different set of needs. That is just different from how to keep a smart kid from getting bored. And I feel like the future is bright. But we still have a ways to go in in advocacy and I’m glad we’ve got greater agency in sharing our voice there.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely.

So, you know, you’re still continuing to write and then 2020 was really seemed like a turning point for you, certainly in terms of content creation, I feel like, well, 2020 was a turning point for a lot of people, but maybe not in the same, you know…

Hunter Hansen: Turning where?

Carolyn Kiel: That’s, I mean, that’s when you started with all your video content.

So what kind of got you to make, to enter that area of, of making videos?

Hunter Hansen: You know, it’s funny to say like maybe depression again. I don’t know. I I feel like it was a combination of a lot of fortuitous circumstances that in retrospect I’m glad happened. In, in the immediate aspect, I was not thrilled with how they happened.

I had always heard and had been encouraged by people who were most direct with me to branch out and kind of see in me like a capability that I didn’t think I had. I, I work remote. So it’s extremely easy for me to communicate on camera. I’m exceptionally well-practiced because I do this by dint of practice.

It’s not natural. I’m an unnatural, natural. And I have to be because I like to be good at my job. I like to build up a lot of goodwill and I can do that in a virtual environment by being almost charming on camera. People had noticed that. And I think the jokes were in my presentations, like I almost expected Hunter to say, be sure to like, and subscribe at the end of this meeting, you know?

And then I’ve had others who’ve said, you know, you’ve just got a certain kind of charisma. Like you need to be on YouTube doing something. Or, you know, I, my mentor was kind of leaning in that direction. Like you should, you should really think about this. And he had beat that drum a lot from a terms of

impact. He said your words are great, but there’s just something about the way you speak it and articulate it. He’s like you just even like looking at your face, you know, me and my big expressive forehead, which I did have an executive communications coach remark that I have a very expressive forehead.

So I use that to my advantage that and the hair, I don’t know. I didn’t think of that because I don’t see myself that way, but others apparently did. And I was like, yeah, that’s great. But I don’t have a camera. I don’t have a tripod. I don’t have a light halo. And I, I mean, I still don’t have a lot of that stuff.

It’s, it’s pitiful, but it’s a great creative restraint and constraint that helps. But I remember it was a low point in a couple of things getting dashed in my career. I had just had my third child. So if I have a fourth kid I’m going to probably launch, you know, I don’t know what, so, but anyway, it was after my third daughter.

And then. Just some, some rough patches career-wise that, it wasn’t, it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Like things had just happened. Had had some extended leave periods and some shuffling. Talked with my mentor and he said, Hey, it kind of sounds like it’s time. Like you have time to do things that you would not have been able to do.

It’s like, why don’t you think about YouTube? I’m like, all right, fine. Let’s try it. Mocked up everything. Got it all done. And I think just. It’s still, I’m not about the numbers anymore. I’ve decoupled my happiness and my disappointment. Like there’s just no emotional hook. And I’m really glad for that because I, I’m not going to celebrate it anymore, but I’m also not going to get as ruined as I used to.

But one thing I was proud of was having a hundred subscribers before my first video. And it’s like, where the heck did you people come from? I don’t even know if this is going to be good. I don’t have a good topic, but I set a date. I said, it’s going to happen. I will have videos. And then I remember one Saturday morning just deciding to go with it.

Just propping my iPhone up. Using, I, I don’t know what combination of books or post-it notes just to prop it, hold it tire my arm out, but I did it and I had one. You know, my mentor’s like you should, you should do 10 and now I’m up to more than 30 and still going. So it was a, again, convergence of a lot of unhappy things, but I had margins then it’s like, let’s, let’s fill this with something I want to do.

And had everything gone my way, I might not have had room for a channel, but now I have a channel and people, people say that it resonates with them. And I’m really, I’m really grateful for that.

Carolyn Kiel:  Yeah, absolutely. And you know, for, for me consuming the content, definitely your, your blog and your video content, it’s like very, it’s different I don’t want to say it’s different perspectives, but it’s just different ways of sharing stories and, and communicating different messages.

So they just complement each other really well. Thanks. So how did you pick like your first topic? Like th that whole concept of making your first video? Because I don’t know, like, I would imagine it’s something brand new, maybe something to kind of figure out and like, what do I even talk about? Like, how is that process?

Hunter Hansen: YouTube is a different, different kind of thing, because, you know, with my blog, it was very personal and it was going to a more personal audience that I knew on social media. But with YouTube, I realized it would go beyond that. And I wanted to make it different. I’d thought about adopting blog topics to YouTube videos or thinking of things that like, I can’t write about this because there’s just too much to write, but there’s plenty to talk about and demonstrate and like have fun with.

I, I had a list of ideas and probably one of the best advice, pieces of advice I give to like content creators, looking to get started is have like the big list. Like if you want to get something started,   write down 30 ideas because the momentum is going to peter out after the second or the first.

And that’s why people fail. It’s like, you just need ideas. You’re, you’re going to have a lot of energy and you’ll get it out. But me I’m in for the long game, I can do a boring and it’s like, I will just write ideas. I’ll fill in topics because even when the motivation’s not there, I just pick the idea I am most in love with.

I have literally had ideas that jumped out. It’s like, I don’t like any of these right now, but Oh, this new thing, I love it. Let’s go do it. And bam, that’s another week. My first topic was. Like the five things you’re not hearing about autism. And I wanted to make it kind of like a strike on, Hey, if you’re brand new to me, I’m so sorry.

This first video is terrible and it was, and like, I really want to recut it or roast it in an anniversary episode or just go back and see how little my children were back then. But. I wanted to just, and I’m thinking back and grimacing, like it was, I didn’t, I didn’t know how to do certain cuts. I just rolled tape.

It was terrible, but it’s one of my most popular, because it really presents me as an autistic adult. Telling you things that you are likely just not hearing about autism, you know, like adults can have it. And our voices are actually in the minority because it’s dominated by, you know, allies or autism parents and like, hang on.

There’s a different narrative. So just kind of spoke from the heart. And, you know, I, I think I misstated the amount of Toy Story movies there were, but just dispelled a couple of things like. I hope you tune in because there’s a lot to share. I want to be a voice. And I mean, it, it resonated pretty well. I couldn’t believe it.

And it was, it kind of set the stage for what worked is like evergreen content. And then also an introduction into, Hey, let me take some blog ideas. Hey, let me get some new video ideas. Let’s start the conversation and it’s evolved into a very very different thing. Still not super like, Hey, here’s what you need to know from an educational standpoint, here’s my take on therapy options, but still more of life.

Like here’s the topic and here’s my life approach to it. And I’ve enjoyed sharing a lot of that in that medium, but that first step was, was tough. And then the second, and then just burning through to where, like, how does this fit? And today I can shoot cut, edit, publish in four hours straight, that’s all it takes.

And it’s a 20 plus minute video. Yeah, so that first one was like, it felt like it took forever. Now. It feels like it takes forever still, but it’s just, I’ve gotten it. I’ve gotten it down. I figured out ways to script out a good idea, points to talk through props, things I want to bring. And then it’s a, it’s a four hour cook.

Can’t believe it. I’m trying to see if I can do it in three, you know, but I still want to make it good, but I also, you know, I have a family, they still need their dad. You know, my wife still needs me and I can’t, I can’t be doing this, you know, a hundred percent of the time. Cause that’s, it is exhausting, but it’s, it’s fun.

And I enjoy the process. And as long as I enjoy making things and designing and like just enjoying that that’s that’s enough. It’s gotta be enough.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And do you, I don’t want to say script out, but like, how do you, like, because I’ve, I’ve watched your videos, I’ve heard you say that you basically do them in one take and then kind of edit everything together.

But the way that it’s just so well constructed, I’m like, you must be like writing these detailed outlines because it’s like, I mean, do you, have you gotten so practiced with it that you kind of know in your head, like what you want to talk about and when, or?

Hunter Hansen: Yeah, I don’t. I mean, if you’re watching the YouTube version on it,

like I’m holding up a post-it note with like five or six scrawled notes. That’s kind of like my anchor point. I, I go through one of my. My productivity apps, the things app, and I will, I have one item in there. I’ll go with a topic and then I just flush it out with stuff I want to discuss. So I, I mean, if I’m looking through one of them, you know, least favorite autistic stereotypes, and I just have bullet points.

So like autism and oversharing, how to do it. Kids versus parents, timing, handling it, how not to do it, awkward versus entertaining, think ahead, thinking questions. Quote, what about Kiwi? Like it’s all these small extemporaneous tent-poles to where I’ll start with that. So I know that if all I’m looking as if all I’m looking at is this list, I can just talk about it and relay like thoughts.

And then usually if I’m prepping for it, it’s like, okay, where do I pre film, some of these, like, can I add like a little bit of a enriching prop to it? Can I do like a scene outdoors? Can I bring one of my kids into this? Do I have a good story? Do I have pictures that tell the story? So when it’s one take it’s one practice with it.

I usually know what I’m going to say. If I try saying it too rigidly, it doesn’t come out. But if I know I’m going to talk about a good question to ask, like, what about Kiwi? You know, I need a good story. I need a good thing to like when I meet somebody famous and then talk about, you know, the famous people I’ve met, what do I say?

How do I become memorable? Where I read that, where that book is actually a good resource for other things, what I can reference. And then it just kind of spits out, but I have to be economical. So a lot of it is, you know, planning I can do at any time. If I’m sitting with the kids if I’m doing other chores, I can always write down,

here’s how I want to let it out. So when it comes time to roll tape, the idea baggage is already there and it’s just unzipping it and it all spills out and it just takes less and less editing at each go.

Carolyn Kiel: Wow that’s, that’s great to know. It still takes me like two hours to make a Reel on Instagram. So yeah, and it’s not good!

Hunter Hansen: I, you know, I, you know, it’s, that’s another medium I’ve enjoyed because some blogs it’s just, I can’t make into videos, some videos I can’t make into short videos.

And there’s some, it’s almost like a form of standup comedy where I have an extensive music collection. I have some topics. Those become, it’s like a 20 minute cook now. Like I just have a good enough idea. And I think the last one I did, I did in my kitchen while blanching asparagus. And I’m like, I can do this.

I just need this set of props. I need this song, I need to prop my camera here and then make sure like nobody walks in on me. So let me keep them busy. And then boom. It’s like, it’s out there may not work, but at least I know I can do this when absolutely pressed on time. So it’s good to have again, creative constraint because I don’t have the time to take a long time to do it.

I just don’t I gotta do. I gotta make do with what I got in between changing diapers, in between cooking in between work, you know, it’s like, it just happens. So, yeah.

Carolyn Kiel: And then, you know, so YouTube kind of came first in 2020, and then when you started doing into Instagram reels, I want to say relatively recently, because that’s actually how I found you.

And I know you wrote before that that’s like, that’s how it sort of brought in the fold. So

Hunter Hansen: It brought in a fold. Yeah. So there was this brilliant person I used to work with who had since moved to Instagram to help on their reels product and just on a whim, I was thinking of like short form video ideas that really don’t make sense when you try to tell a joke over the course of a 20 minute video.

But would be almost perfect to dip in and do just like, Hey, I can do like a witty reel. I can get like one semi-humorous autistic point across. I can use my music collection. And then I think I had like three, four, five of them do numbers. They don’t anymore. It’s just, they, they hit the algorithm at the right time and it was just funny to explore awkward social quirks.

And it was. I mean, I don’t want to say like that my Instagram blew up, but it definitely increased as a result of Hunter doing silly autism reels. And it was fun. It was good to be connected and like, you know, so I still try to keep the practice cause I like pairing music. I like framing it in that way.

And I think the medium is, is a happy one and it’s fun. So every Tuesday morning, that’s, that’s my creative thing. So Mondays the blog Tuesday mornings, the reels, Wednesdays, the YouTube, and then I intentionally backload doing the videos now because I’d spend too much time observing.

And that’d be like, Oh, it’s not doing well, or it’s doing great. Oh my gosh, this isn’t working. And I realized like, if I’m just sitting there watching how people respond and it’s not to my expectations, I’m going to fall into a trap. I’m going to get bored. So it’s like, Nope, just work on the next episode and have that ready to go.

So it’s like, how this does this great. I don’t care how it it’s like movie directors, like, Hey, the premiere’s great. It’s awesome. But I’m like knee deep in another project at this point. And it’s, it’s exhausting, but I’d rather choose the perils of creative exhaustion versus like audience response and anxiety.

And, you know, it’s just, it’s tough. I am still human. So I have to, I have to be level about it. Problem is though I did that video in four hours. So it’s like, great. Now I’ve got two days to observe how this latest video is doing. Maybe I should film another thing and fill that void with creative output because then, Hey, I’ve got some stories to tell it’s fun and it’s a good way not to look at like, Oh, how is this doing?

How are people responding? Do they hate me even more? No, I’m just immersed in another project that I like. So that’s, that is the cadence. So if you want the secret sauce, that is how the life autistic goes.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And I think that’s a good approach because I mean, of course, with podcasting, it’s the same challenge.

It’s like, what are my numbers? And is anybody downloading this? And it’s like, yeah, but, and I’ve noticed with your videos, and I know you’re not paying attention to the numbers as much, but I’m seeing like, That you know, you’re getting views, but you’re getting so like within an hour or two, you’re getting so many comments

of people writing like, yes, this is my experience. Or like I related to this or this makes me think of somebody that I know. I think that’s, that’s huge, that kind of community and that interaction, because like, I mean, you know, views, you know, you can buy those, you can get bots to like drive up your numbers, but that real like community input, like that is something that,

that you have to, you know, the content has to bring the people in.

Hunter Hansen: And that’s kind of where, two threads on this. One, I had somebody remark that my videos have the most wholesome YouTube comments section, and I’m like, That is strange. And he mentioned that like, it’s strange because that’s not where you go for wholesome conversations.

I’m like, that’s true. I, so I delight in that. I like the fact that I, my expertise is my experience. Like I don’t sit and say like, Hey, here’s what you should do. Here’s what you shouldn’t, I’m just speaking from experience. Like, unless you’re my siblings, you’re really not going to argue with me about that.

Right. Your experience will differ and it’s like, cool, that’s your experience? It is valid too. Like, I’m sorry, you had a bad experience with this. Mine was fine. You know, I’d love to learn more about yours, you know, or Hey, mine was terrible. I’m glad you had a good experience with this. That’s awesome. You know, I would love to have had that, but I didn’t, but I’m sharing it and that’s okay.

Experience varies. So, and then two I like it because I never thought of myself as relatable. I was always the odd man out. Now I’m the odd man in apparently, and because of that otherness just really shaping who I was as a person for so long. I felt like I would be a perpetual outsider until I realized that Whoa, other people actually feel like this too.

And I share things that like, I can’t be the only one who thinks this, or even if I am, I’m delighted that people respond and say, Me too. I also check Wikipedia on my phone and miss the entire movie because I figured out this one actor was here and it’s like, it’s not just me. And in a weird way that weirdness and otherness, it’s nice to be along the same spectrum and wavelength with other people’s otherness too. And the phrase that comes back is you are not alone. I’ve had people say that to me. I’ve told that to people and I think that’s a really beneficial thing for autistic people to hear growing up. And they are the only one in their group who is like who they are.

They’re not alone. Even as adults. It’s like, no, you are not alone in this. And I think that’s a powerful thing in the human experience. And especially with autism, because you feel alone a lot, until you find other people who are like, no, I feel alone a lot. And here’s why. You too? Yes! And, and there you go. That’s your autism community.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. And that’s th that’s just so powerful. Oh, amazing so, I mean, Thinking you’re already having like this impact with, with all of your content creation. Have you kind of thought like a little longer-term like, do you, is there like other types of impact that you want to have with your content? Or…

Hunter Hansen: You know, that’s, I didn’t even think I’d, what’s the phrase from Samwise Gamgee? By rights, we shouldn’t even be here. And I hadn’t, like, I just think, I’m just some rando in Denver. I’m a dad, I’m old. I have three kids and I use big words. I’m not an influencer. I’m not some social media guy. Like now I’m on YouTube.

I have strangers who can navigate my house and know what books are on my bookshelf and pick up on things that I don’t even notice, like my paint job. It’s like, I get clowned about like that now. And it’s like, I have just random people who do this and the impacts are just interesting. I, my passion though is it’s more professional.

I do have what I call boring professional privilege. I just do. I work in a corporate environment and I’m a boring professional person. I am pretty straight-edge. My hair’s wild, but that’s really it. Otherwise I’m just kind of flat. I don’t, I don’t do anything wild. And I realized though, that’s still a great weapon for autism.

There’s other influencers, mega influencers who are doing a lot and connecting and vibing with a lot of other people, you know, across the spectrum. My flavor of autism and my flavor of Hunter is not everybody’s, but where I’ve been really proud of is that, you know, in a professional context, you’re probably not going to go to like a super Tik Tok star

to inform your efforts on neurodiversity. You’re going to want to just be a little more risk averse and quote unquote, make it more corporate to where, like, who do I want to help educate us on this? That’s still falling far behind because it’s still very clinical approach. It’s still non-autistic people and just people talking about autism, but I’m really excited for the headway

and some of the steps that we’ve made to where, Hey, I get tapped for this now. People, I’m like, you must be desperate to be asking Hunter, but they do. And they know like, Hey, I’d love your take on this neurodiversity initiative. I feel like your experience is valid. Cause we, we don’t need a textbook or medical definition.

We just need to know, Hey. How do we get the most out of our autistic talent? How do we accommodate autistic people who are undiagnosed, who don’t share their conditions? What do we do to make it a better workplace? And that niche is not super popular. And I can tell you that cause of the videos I do, but I’m really passionate about that. Because,

there’s, I won’t name names, but there’s a certain film out that has aggrieved a lot of the autistic community. And a lot of people are up in arms about it. Me, I can only be mad about so many things in a day. I just don’t have the outrage. I’m a dad now. And I have daughters. I’m pretty mellow most of the time, but what I want to do, like my advocacy is where

five years down the road, an undiagnosed autistic adult going in for their first quote, unquote, real job gets into that interview, stroke of luck and ends up, you know, freezing or using like, I don’t know, like a sesquipedalian word or whatever, something that’s polysyllabic that the interviewer five years ago would think, Oh, using big words must be a weirdo.

We’re not going to take them because they’re not a good communicator. They’re probably showing off. I want to be the one who can affect change to where they might double-take and think, this is a product of neurodivergence most likely. This person may be communicating with this word in this way because of how they aligned with the sentiment there.

They’re obviously not showing off. They probably don’t have communication difficulties. They’ve made it this far. Let me check my own bias. Let me listen to them. Let me hear what they have to say. Let me see how they can demonstrate their value to what they add to the company. What they can give our customers like those.

That’s my advocacy. That’s what I want to do to where it’s, it’s more subtle, because like gainful employ elevates your life. I’m independent. I have a house. I do okay. You know, and that’s amazing for an autistic person or any person, but I don’t want, like, there’s a huge, like underemployment crisis with autistic people anyway.

And a lot of it is just lack of knowledge. Lack of knowledge begets a lack of support, misunderstanding, and then boom, we’ve got this talent that’s just shut out of not just like, it’s not so much giving to the corporate environment, but just elevating your life. You have a stable job, stable income. For me, it’s a stable work environment.

I know what to expect. I’m away from a lot of other anxieties and I get paid to do what I do and sit in a nice fortress. So I like that’s something to where it’s not for everybody, but yeah. Like, that’s the kind of advocacy and impact I’m hoping to have, which means maybe I might have to, well, I’m probably not going to get a haircut, but I’d love to see this broadened to where

like, Hey, we want to understand how to be better for autistic people, you know, from like a company perspective. Hunter, would you be willing to lend your perspective? You know? Yeah. I’m getting in the door as like, ah, you know, you’re on YouTube, but you also have company experience. You get it, you understand the grind, you understand what it is to balance expectations, decorum with being your authentic self.

We, that was a long answer, but that’s, I realized there’s, it’s not some other channel. It’s not some other kind of content. It’s not a podcast. I’m not going to be in that space. But there is a space to where I can, I can help with it and that’d be nice. It’d be cool. And some of it’s starting to happen.

Can’t say much about it, but it’s slow crawl. On we go.

Carolyn Kiel: That’s cool. And

that’s powerful because you know, you’re just by nature of, you know, your, even your proximity, because you’ve, you know, you work in the corporate world, you’ve been working there for many years. I think you have, are you kind of uniquely positioned to, you know, you’re kind of in the place and you’re, you’re doing all of this content and you’re positioned to definitely

be there and make that impact. And plus I think it’s powerful because I think there’s just a lot of misunderstandings and bias about like what kind of jobs autistic people can have. Yes. Oh, I mean, like you work as a business analyst, but you’ve done other things in your career.

Hunter Hansen: Can we park here for a second?

Cause even like these kinds of things, like the running gag, I have a co-host at work who is brilliant with QA and she jokes that it’s a prototypical, you know, like a stereotypical autistic job. She’s like, I just happened to be good at it. But I was, my first job was as a technical support agent taking phone calls, like, yeah, taking calls,

like I don’t even call for pizza. I do it. Yeah. So imagine being on the receiving end of that call, it was, it was different and it was good to at least learn that. But I was I was a people leader. I had an organization and I was good at it. I enjoyed it. I enjoyed coaching. I enjoyed leading. I could stir up a crowd.

I put on the, what I call the Luchador mask of energy and people got riled up. But it was good. And I think people relegate like, Oh, autistic people. Cool. Maybe we have some coding and QA jobs. It’s like not, coding was late for me. Like that was a late acquisition and daunting and I’m still not great at it.

In fact, I’m great at other things about my job that don’t involve just raw data technicality. I was actually, I probably got where I did based more on my, if you can believe this, acquired people skills. It’s not data that drives people. It’s people that drive people. And, you know, sending a note when somebody had a bad meeting and let them know that like, Hey, this seemed rough.

I’m here to support you. And I’m their data guy. And they have a data guy who’s the most human in their orbit who reached out to ask if things were okay. I mean, that bought me six months of goodwill, you know? So it’s, and I think that’s another, like, that’s one of those things to where, hey, cool. You want to open the door to autistic people?

Well, it’s not just tech. I mean, there’s other leadership roles. There’s other support roles. So I it’s, again, I’m in this for the long game. And that’s okay. So when all these autistic kids in America grow up, I’m hoping that the workplace is going to be way more open just in general and not just open, but understanding to where, like, no, we don’t have autistic specific jobs, but we have ways to support you with what you’re good at, and it doesn’t have to be coding.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah. wow that’s awesome. It’s interesting because I. And that, and maybe that’s that commonality, why I’m just kind of drawn to your content is because we have that kind of corporate experience in common. So, you know, and I definitely find a lot of your content relatable, even though I’m neurotypical, but I, you know, every time I read a blog of yours, there’s at least one thing in there that just like really gets me.

I’m like, Oh my God, somebody else has done that? Or somebody else’s felt that way or thought that? So I just see, I totally see the relatability and it’s really great that you’re able to make that impact.

Hunter Hansen: Yeah, it’s been surprising, but I’m glad. It’s just sometimes put it out there and people latch on to different aspects of it.

And I think that’s the delight, like something that lands with somebody in one way, just, you know, completely brushes by somebody else. Like, and I, I look in that, like, there’s, I kind of do like a running history of my videos, blog posts. There’s one that I said, I’m writing this for me and I don’t care. It doesn’t even have to be about autism.

I just want to make this a Hunter Hansen. I just got to get it out. And it was about the bricks. And like, that’s apparently like a favorite of a lot of people. Like I L and I’m like, this was just for me! Like, I didn’t write it for any of you! Like I was angry, but I still go back to it. And it’s funny how

what you put out there, you just don’t, you don’t really know the kind of impact. Like this one video did this, or there’s one that like, I, if I look at the numbers, there’s some that are just clear underperformers, but then it just hits somebody a certain way, gets them thinking, they share, and then like now I’m doing podcasts with them and like that has happened.

And it’s just, it’s just strange. And it’s, I’m not saying that’s my only motivation, but it’s good to just talk because there’s parts of a message that will resonate deeply. Sometimes it’s the whole thing. Sometimes it’s a throwaway phrase like, wow, that really changed how I looked at it. So I dunno. It’s good to share.

I’m glad people find value in it and carry that forward.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, absolutely. Oh, well, Hunter, it’s been such a pleasure to, to actually get to meet you. I feel like I’m meeting a celebrity.

Hunter Hansen:  Absolutely, the pleasure’s all mine. Well, I’m not, I’m not in, I’m not in that in any sense. So I will say like, I, it wasn’t until like I had to dip in and listen to your podcast, because the beyond 6 seconds, like that’s an interesting hook and I’m like, What does that even refer to?

And I, and apparently, yeah, first impressions and I just love the setup. And I think when you meet autistic people, my first impression is very different. Like whether you know I’m autistic, if you don’t, how you present, I go into like the uncanny valley effect. So it’s, it’s compelling. So I hope that. I hope that hope I’ve made a good first impression on this one, a lasting one of, some of some value somehow.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. Wow. So let’s tell everyone where should we go to find your content online?

Hunter Hansen: Yeah so if you like the writing, it’s thelifeautistic.com. That’ll link you to Instagram and the YouTube, but it’s the underscore life underscore autistic on Instagram. And then if you just look up Hunter Hansen, the life autistic on YouTube, you will find me there as well.

Carolyn Kiel: Fabulous. And I’ll put links in the show notes.

Hunter Hansen: Thank you, that really helps.

Carolyn Kiel: So, yeah, just as we close out, is there anything else that you’d like our listeners to know or anything that they can do to help or support you?

Hunter Hansen: As far as like, me?

Carolyn Kiel: Or your work?

Hunter Hansen: I, you know, it’s, I, I will say this. It’s nice to have. It’s nice to have likes and subscribes.

I love the commentary. I love the dialogue I love when people actually take their time to write about how something affected them or a comment on a video. Like, I know it sounds trite, but I really like, I can still take the time to like, and respond to all of it. And a lot of times it creates a positive cycle of just understanding people’s experiences better.

What I’ve been going on lately is just, if it’s interesting, share it, because it’s like nodes. Right? You may be more connected to somebody who may find value in it more than you do. And I’m, that’s how I’m trying to build the advocacy is I don’t know all the autistic people you know, but you do, or they do.

And that’s, that’s what I’m hoping. And it’s been a great endeavor. I’ve liked it. People seem to enjoy the content thus far. So yes, that’s, that’s the best way. I just, I just like the dialogue. I’m not, I’m not in it to like create a community, but it just happens. It’s grown and I’ve fondly appreciated, you know, the supporters and the comments and the shares and the feedback and, and what people say, it’s a gift.

Carolyn Kiel: Yeah, it’s a gift and it’s a gift that you’re, you’re also giving to the world essentially just be like so profound, but really it’s, you know, it takes the effort and to share about your life and, and bring us into your day-to-day life is it’s major. It’s a gift that you’re giving to us. So and I’m excited, I know you’re just going to continue your influence and your impact will continue to grow. And I’m excited to, to see how it does.

Hunter Hansen:  It’ll be quite the journey ahead. I got no idea what’s up, but it’s, it’s been interesting and I just hope it stays interesting. That’s the spice of life.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely. Right. Well, thank you so much, Hunter for being on my show.

Hunter Hansen: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

Carolyn Kiel: Absolutely.

Carolyn Kiel: Thanks for listening to Beyond 6 Seconds. Please help us spread the word about this podcast. Share it with a friend. Give us a shoutout on your social media or write a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast player. You can find all of our episodes on our website and sign up for our free newsletter at www.beyond6seconds.com. Until next time.