Ari: Intersectionality, social justice, and eating disorders

Welcome to this episode of NeurospicED, Eating Disorders Neurodiversity Australia’s (EDNA) podcast.

Our 13th episode features Ari Spanos (they/she) and Laurence is the host. Ari is a dietitian and credentialed eating disorder clinician who focuses on empowering their clients through gender and neurodiversity-affirming as well as non-diet practices. They are also passionate about promoting social justice within eating disorder care, through person-centred approaches rather than one size fits all frameworks.

In this episode, Ari shares their experience of growing up an undiagnosed autistic ADHDer, and how this has impacted on their sense of self and eating patterns. They mention that masking (also referred to as camouflaging) has been part of their eating disorder development, to avoid being discriminated against and rejected. Ari also discusses how being queer and gender non-binary has influenced their body image. They emphasize the importance for neurodivergent people struggling with eating disorders to connect with the neurodivergent community as this has been a very important aspect of their eating disorder recovery because it provided feelings of validation and acceptance. 

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We would like to remind you that this episode discusses topics that may be distressing for some. Therefore, we would like to emphasise the importance of accessing support services if required:

- The Butterfly National helpline: 1800 33 4673 (1800 ED HOPE)

- The Beyond Blue helpline: 1300 22 4636

- Call 000 in an emergency

Music extracts: Illenium, Fractures ©