Embrace Autism Podcast #02: Arik Marmorstein

In our second podcast episode, we talk with Arik Marmorstein; a serial entrepreneur who’s founded Mimoona, RefreshBox, and most recently Spectroomz, a remote freelance blog for autistic talent. Arik lives in Israel with his wife and his autistic son.

Follow Arik:

• Website: Spectroomz.com
• Facebook: Autism Jobs Blog
• Twitter: @Spectroomz
• Medium: @ErikBrodch

Arik also has a guest post on our website:

Spectroomz: autistic freelancers

Video podcast

Below you can listen to and watch the podcast on YouTube. The topics of discussion can be found in the description on YouTube, or scroll down on this post.

Audio podcast

If you want to listen audio-only, you can find us on most podcast platforms, including Podbean and Spotify.

Topics of discussion

0:00 Intro
0:38 Greetings and quarantine
1:11 Arik as a serial entrepreneur
3:00 How Arik manages all of his projects
4:43 Ro’im Rachok: Autistics in the Israeli Defense Force
6:40 Major corporations specifically hiring autistics
8:15 Corporations resist neurodiversity
10:14 Autistic work preferences
11:16 Matt’s bad work experience
11:46 Martin’s work preferences
12:00 Arik loved studying law but not practicing it
14:35 Arik’s aspie traits and broad autism phenotype
15:15 Rare mutation turns Arik’s son into an autistic X-Men
16:23 Arik’s son suffers a seizure
17:45 Arik embraces his son’s autism
18:35 Autistics speak on the torture of ABA therapy
19:35 Eye contact can be tough
20:45 Arik’s son’s diagnosis
21:22 Verbal, high IQ autistic kids dig older folks but struggle with other kids
23:10 The issue of a lack of knowledge on autism
24:50 Autism had awful public relations
26:22 Matt’s 25-year-long journey to receive an autism diagnosis
28:23 River otters spotted!
29:18 Autism research focused on children (particularly boys) at the expense of adults
30:00 Gatekeeping achievements
31:40 “If he didn’t have that mutation, he’d be a genius”
32:50 Googling for hope: Autistic geniuses
34:00 Autistics withheld from showing off their talents
34:46 Remote work to help autistics and NTs
35:17 Autistics are more than code monkeys
38:23 The variety of behaviors on the spectrum
39:53 Autistics prefer detailed instructions and minimal social interactions
41:20 The sociological issues of the treatments of autistics
42:55 MDMA reduces anxiety in autistic study participants
46:22 Supposed empathy deficits in autism really caused by co-occurring alexithymia
47:25 Coming out as autistic at work
48:22 Everyday discrimination
50:02 The Moses of neurotypes: How Arik bridges the autistic–NT divide
54:00 Neurodiversity isn’t a priority at most organizations
56:00 Fluorescent lighting sucks
56:26 Accommodations at work
57:36 Bigger organizations lack flexibility
58:45 The mission of Spectroomz
1:00:17 What Arik’s learned from working with autistic people
1:02:08 Nevo’s (Arik’s son) special interests
1:05:38 Arik doesn’t dig the Foo Fighters
1:06:46 Arik and Nevo’s Infinite Playlist
1:08:18 Two very important questions
1:08:51 The best hummus in Israel
1:09:53 The great US hummus hoax
1:10:39 More on Sonya Bot
1:12:00 How Arik created Sonya Bot
1:13:18 Sonya Bot is universal
1:14:28 Sign up for Spectroomz!
1:15:10 Arik’s social media