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Speaker 1: And Amanda jam Nation. It doesn't matter whether you're on

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Speaker 1: the spectrum or not on the spectrum. Everybody has a

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Speaker 1: basic human right and a basic human need for connection

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Speaker 1: and love.

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Speaker 2: That was relationship counselor Jody Rogers from Love on the Spectrum.

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Speaker 2: This show is so heartwarming. It's taken the world by storm,

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Speaker 2: and it originates in Australia, but America makes its own

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Speaker 2: version now. It's a TV show that follows young Australians

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Speaker 2: on the autism spectrum on their quest to find true love.

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Speaker 2: And Jodi is hoping to make a more inclusive and

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Speaker 2: accepting society all round with a new book called Unique

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Speaker 2: and she joins us. Now, Hello, Jody, good morning, Amanda,

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Speaker 2: how are you very well? Thank you? This show I

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Speaker 2: think it touches people because it's so pure and it's

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Speaker 2: the antithesis of married at first sight in those kind

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Speaker 2: of shows. Would you agree with that?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it's way better than marriage. I think

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Speaker 1: maybe because of the authenticity of all the people that

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Speaker 1: are on the show, and everybody who's them to watch

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Speaker 1: it found it relateable. I know it's about autistic people

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Speaker 1: and autistic people's dating experience, but I think all viewers

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Speaker 1: probably at some point or other in their life have

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Speaker 1: had to have the feelings of what it feels like

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Speaker 1: toes on first dates.

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Speaker 2: And with autism, it's very hard for an autistic person

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Speaker 2: to form new relationships with people, so I'd imagine a

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Speaker 2: sexual relationship would be pretty much undoable.

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Speaker 1: Well, Jantie, it's kind of I mean, that's everybody's different,

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Speaker 1: as you can imagine. So yes, there's some people that

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Speaker 1: have difficulty forming intimate relationships, and that could be physical intimacy,

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Speaker 1: but intimacy is also about being vulnerable, So to be

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Speaker 1: vulnerable with another person that actually takes lot of trust,

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Speaker 1: and as we know, trust can take a lot of

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Speaker 1: time to develop and build. But every single autistic person

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Speaker 1: is very, very different from one another.

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Speaker 2: This is the stuff that hasn't been spoken about, I

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Speaker 2: imagine for years and years. It must be so nice

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Speaker 2: for families to see their children acknowledged in this way

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Speaker 2: and to be helped to find love.

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Speaker 1: I think what it does is it allows people to

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Speaker 1: see that no matter how different we are for one another,

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Speaker 1: or how different somebody might be from the majority of

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Speaker 1: the community, that every person, like all of us, are

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Speaker 1: seeking love and connection with one another.

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Speaker 2: So with your book Unique, what kind of stuff are

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Speaker 2: you touching on there.

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Speaker 1: The whole book short stories and all of the stories

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Speaker 1: that it's kind of it. I call it an upside

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Speaker 1: down book, Commander, because it's about experiences that I've had

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Speaker 1: with autistic people that have actually taught me about all

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Speaker 1: of us, all of our relationships and all of our

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Speaker 1: connections and how as humans basically we try to connect

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Speaker 1: with each other. But each story starts with sort of

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Speaker 1: something that I've experienced an autistic person that has really

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Speaker 1: made me think about how we do this people, how

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Speaker 1: we really start these initial interactions, how we use our

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Speaker 1: facial expressions, how we use our eyes, how we use

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Speaker 1: our language, how we communicate. So, yeah, I'll call it

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Speaker 1: an upside down book because it's really for all of

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Speaker 1: us and about how it is that we all desire

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Speaker 1: this deep sense of belonging with each other. We all

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Speaker 1: none of us want to be lonely. There's not a

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Speaker 1: single person on the planet that wants to experience.

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Speaker 2: Loneliness, Yet we find it so hard. Don't we make

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Speaker 2: to find partners?

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Speaker 1: Yes? Yes, And so some of the books following that

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Speaker 1: open a little bit too and kind of talking about

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Speaker 1: you know, there's many autistic people that I work with

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Speaker 1: that they've got a feeling that they need to have

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Speaker 1: an intimate partner to feel that they're loved or they're worthy.

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Speaker 1: And so it's really breaking that open a little bit

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Speaker 1: talking about what is deep connection and is it about

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Speaker 1: having an intimate partner or is it about the fact

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Speaker 1: that just having deep friendships and deep relate, good healthy

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Speaker 1: relationships well is so important as opposed to the aforementioned

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Speaker 1: married at first sight. Well, I suppose everybody's got a

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Speaker 1: desire for that too, don't worry or there's lots of

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Speaker 1: people in my life that are all over that married

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Speaker 1: ex fact, I think that's what it is too, Like

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Speaker 1: married at first sight, all of us are intrigued by

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Speaker 1: other people, and we're all intrigued about how do other

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Speaker 1: people create partnerships? How you know where all of us are.

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Speaker 1: We're all really interested in each other. So yeah, this

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Speaker 1: book sort of does it. It's not a marriage first

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Speaker 1: site in an insight into you know, just how we

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Speaker 1: all relate to one another.

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Speaker 2: Well, this is great.

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Speaker 1: There's no teeth whitening or a blue tick from Instagram.

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Speaker 2: That's just a real stuff that's for love.

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Speaker 1: It's a quest for Love. It definitely is. I'm quite

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Speaker 1: excited because it's out on the shelves today, but I

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Speaker 1: haven't seen it my bookshop. So so this morning as

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Speaker 1: soon as those bookshops open and I will be down

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Speaker 1: there going, oh my god, there's a book.

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Speaker 2: And make sure you put it right in the front.

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Speaker 2: Go and do that. That's what Amanda did with her book.

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Speaker 2: I didn't think no, I didn't pushed everyone else's books

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Speaker 2: out of the way, move over Bible.

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Speaker 1: To that.

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Speaker 2: Lady's great, whoever her name is. I'm going to buy

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Speaker 2: fifty copies.

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Speaker 1: Jody, it's great to talk to you. Unique is out today.

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Speaker 1: Head to your closest bookstore to get it now. Jody Rogers,

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Speaker 1: thank you. Thanks Jonsey, He's lovely chat to you.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Aman, Thanks Jody,