Spiegelportretten,
autisme langs ieders levensverhaal
Spiegelportretten, autisme langs ieders levensverhaal, is a (Dutch spoken) podcast series from the International Professional Association of Autism Specialists, also called ‘IBvA.’
In this podcast, Bas Schepers and Vincent de Raad take you into the world of people with autism and professionals who work with autism, through interviews and personal stories. The stories are sincere, candid, and depict life and work with autism as it truly is. Spiegelportretten offers new perspectives, insights, and practical lessons on living with, interacting with, and working with autism. Ranging from deep and reflective to highly practical, everything is covered.
The podcast highlights multiple perspectives: How does someone with autism experience the world? How do professionals who support them perceive it? How do parents navigate the hopes, dreams, and expectations for their child with autism? What are the stories of others involved? And where do challenges arise?
This podcast is for anyone interested in autism and wanting to learn more about the everyday human experience of living and working with autism.
Listen to the (Dutch spoken) introduction of Spiegelportretten:
The Story of the Project
The ‘Internationale Beroepsvereniging van Autisme Specialisten’ (also called IBvA) or ‘International Professional Association of Autism Specialists’ in English, is a group of Dutch and Belgian professionals specialized in (working with people with) autism.
To raise the association’s profile and create more awareness of the daily reality of people with autism and the professionals supporting them, they started the Spiegelportretten podcast series. Each episode features one or multiple members of the association, together with friends, family members, partners, and others from the autism community, sharing their experiences with different aspects of life with autism.
When, after 9 episodes, the previous makers of the series quit, Ilonka van der Sommen, the chair of the association, asked me whether I wanted to finish the series.
At the time, I was in the process of making the third season of The Live Coaches podcast and I had developed a passion for the research, interviewing and storytelling that entailed. After 3 years of working on my own podcast, about my own expertise, I was curious whether I would feel the same passion and excitement when making a podcast about something else. I also happened to have a deep personal connection with the subject of autism, since 2 of my sisters have been diagnosed to be on the spectrum.
I gladly took the assignment and saw it as a unique opportunity to delve deeper into autism and at the same time, find out whether podcast-making, interviewing and storytelling were something I wanted to pursue further, apart from my work with The Live Coaches.
In the end I made 3 additional episodes and an introduction, including a final episode looking back at the lessons and insights of the series through fragments of the previous 11 episodes.
Listen to the (Dutch spoken) final episode of Spiegelportretten where we look back on the lessons and insights we got from the series through key fragments of different episodes:
My Process
However big or small a project, I like to go deep and be thorough. Every project to me can be like a small obsession. I will go above and beyond to get it right. In this section I will tell you a little about the different steps I took in the process of making Spiegelportretten.
1.
In the case of Spiegelportretten I was finishing an ongoing series that someone else had made. That’s why I started by listening to all previous episodes, analysing the style they were made in and dissecting the individual building blocks of each episode. This way, I made a road map that I could relate to in my own process to make the complete series feel like a whole.
2.
The second step was to, together with the association, decide what subjects and which members should still be featured in the final episodes of the series. To me, this is one of the most important steps in the process, because in an interview format the guest is everything. To come to a final choice, I went to a meeting day of the association, sent out a google form to all members of the association to get a good feel for the people and subjects available and willing to be on the podcast. Finally, together with the association, I made a definitive choice. The whole step took about two months.
Listen to the (Dutch spoken) 10th episode of Spiegelportretten where I talk with Janne Pruisscher and Britt Breuker about their experiences and perspective of being both professionals working with people with autism and also having multiple diagnoses (amongst which autism) themselves:
3.
I then used my analysis of the previous 9 episodes to compile a list of questions and make a roadmap for each interview, based on the style of the previous makers, while also inserting my own ideas to make it my own, as to not compromise the previously established structure and atmosphere of the series.
For example: episodes 10, 11 and 12 feature an intro before the episode starts, in which you hear a small fragment of the conversation to come. This is an element I’ve honed of the 3 seasons of The Live Coaches. It introduces the tone and spirit of the episode to the listener and sparks their curiosity to keep listening.
4.
Then followed the interviews. The 3 conversations I had for this podcast were of a very different nature than the conversations I had had before for The Live Coaches podcast. With The Live Coaches we speak to people from the music industry who, for the most part, are used to being interviewed and recorded. Also, while sometimes being personal, the topics discussed are of a lighter and more professional nature. This time I was interviewing people outside of their comfort zone and covering deeply personal topics.
5.
In the end, I’m very happy with how it turned out and the project was a deeply affirming process for me that has motivated me to keep moving in this direction. I now intend to keep making more podcasts in 2025 and continue to hone my craft.
I’m super grateful for the chance to work on this project and for all the subjects who so generously shared their deeply personal experiences with me and the audience. Through this project I felt a deep sense of meaning from being able to give them a voice and a chance to share their stories and be heard. I really believe in the power that these types of podcasts can have in creating more awareness and understanding amongst people of different backgrounds and with different ways of being in the world.
Listen to the (Dutch spoken) 11th episode of Spiegelportretten where I talk with Marcia Verhulst and Jennifer de Jongh about service dogs for people with autism:
