Autism Advocacy & Siblings, with Hayley and Matthew Leach | EDB 306
Miss Missouri 2023 Hayley Leach & self-advocate Matthew Leach discuss being siblings working together for the autism community.
Hayley Leach is a 25 year-old law student at Washington University in St. Louis and was recently crowned Miss Missouri 2023. During her year of service, Hayley will travel the state of Missouri and promote a community service initiative (CSI) of her choice. Hayley’s CSI is autism awareness and acceptance which was inspired by her brother, Matthew, who was diagnosed with autism in 2002. Upon graduation from law school, Hayley plans on practicing Labor and Employment law with a specialty in disability issues and advocacy. Since competing in the Miss America Organization, Hayley has accumulated over $31,000 in scholarships which have been used to further her education. She will go on to represent Missouri at the Miss America Competition later this year.
Matthew Leach currently resides in Lexington, Kentucky where he is a senior at the University of Kentucky. He majors in Biology and plans to further his education by going to graduate school and getting a master’s degree in Forensic Science. His favorite things to do are reading, going to the movies, and spending time with his French Bulldog, Chloe.
Together they have co-authored two books: “Frankie and Finn” and “See the Able, Not the Label.” They also host the podcast called “Puzzle in Progress”, available on Apple and Spotify Podcasts.
For more about their work: https://linktr.ee/hayleyleach
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Note: the following transcription was automatically generated. Some imperfections may exist.
HACKIE REITMAN MD (HR):
Hi, I’m Dr. Hackie Reitman. Welcome to another episode of Exploring Different Brains. And today, we’ve got siblings. We’ve got Hayley and Matthew Leach. And they’re going to tell us all about their work, raising acceptance for autism. Welcome Hayley and Matthew.
HAYLEY LEACH (HL):
Hello. Thank you for having us.
MATTHEW LEACH (ML):
Thank you for having us both.
HR:
Well, thank you both for being here. Instead of me messing it up. Why don’t you guys introduce yourselves to the audience, ladies first.
HL:
Thank you. Well, hello, everyone. My name is Hayley Leach. I’m the current Miss Missouri 2023. And I’m also an autism awareness, acceptance and inclusion advocate and I became an advocate 20 years ago, when my brother Matthew was first diagnosed with autism. And through the years, Matthew and I have really been a team on our advocacy efforts. We’ve developed our own podcast called puzzling progress. We’ve written two books, one called Sita Abel, not the label and another a children’s book called Frankie and Finn, and this year is Miss Missouri and potentially Miss America. I’m really excited to bring autism awareness and inclusion and our message not only to the state of Missouri, but nationally as well.
HR:
Well, that’s great, and you speak beautifully.
HL:
Thank you lots of practice.
HR:
I’m telling them to vote for you for Miss America. Matthew, Europe.
ML:
All right. Hello, everyone. My name is Matthew Leach. And just like Haley said, I was diagnosed over 20 years ago when I was three years old with autism. And ever since then, I’ve been trying to advocate for autism awareness for everyone. I am currently a senior at the University of Kentucky, I’m trying to get my biology degree, and hopefully get my master’s degree. And I’m planning on being a forensic investigator. But Haley and I have been working together all these years to help spread awareness for autism. And just like she said, we’ve created our own podcast, “Puzzles in Progress”. We’ve written three or two books, actually. And just want to say Haley’s been my number one supporter since day one, and I appreciate that.
HR:
Well, handily, that’s a segue to tell us about your journey to becoming Miss Missouri, and why you decided to use that platform for autism acceptance and inclusion.
HL:
Absolutely. It’s really been a lifelong journey. I feel like I became interested in competing in pageants when I was really little. But I specifically became interested in the Miss America organization, because it does have a focus on allowing young women to promote a personal platform about something they’re passionate about. And I was five years old when Matthew was first diagnosed. And even as a little girl, I was taking on kind of the role of educating my peers about what autism was some of the struggles that Matthew was going through. And I thought that a natural segue to do that was through the Miss America organization. And it’s really been a life changing opportunity for me. And I feel like now as Miss Missouri, so many doors are open for Matthew and I to continue this important advocacy work because of the title that I have. But I know regardless of if I’m Miss Missouri or just Hayley, Matthew and I will continue this important work for the rest of our lives.
HR:
Well, that’s certainly great to open up to use it for such a great thing. Matthew, can you tell us about your podcast “Puzzle in Progress”?
ML:
Of course. So a few months ago, before we even started the podcast alien, I wanted to continue to spread awareness for autism. And we were sitting down together. And our initial idea was let’s just write another book. But I had an idea and basically said, why don’t we create a podcast together and both of us co hosted, and we talked about both sides of the spectrum, someone that has autism, and someone that lives with someone with autism, I figured it would be the perfect podcast for parents who had just gotten a child diagnosed with autism to understand and learn and also for people on the spectrum to basically find information to know that they have someone to rely on for information that they may not know. And ever since then, I think alien I’ve recorded over six episodes. We’ve recorded my doctor when I was a kid, our parents each other. And we even talked with a representative from Autism Speaks yesterday. So it’s coming very exciting for us.
HR:
Oh, that’s great. That’s great. When people listen to your podcast, what do you hope they take away?
ML:
What I want them to take away from the podcast is to show that autism is not a bad thing. A lot of people nowadays like to see it as a label. And they often say, oh, you know, this is not a very good thing. I want them to understand that simply having autism is not a bad thing. If anything, it’s a good thing. It makes us more unique. It makes us more human. That’s how I like to look at it.
HL:
Well, I think that’s really powerful Matthews perspective, I think is what’s most important. And I think it’s, that’s something we want to share, because Matthew can be that self advocate and can advocate for others on this spectrum by sharing his experiences. But when I was growing up, as well, I didn’t have a lot of siblings that really understood what it was like to have a sibling on the spectrum. And one of our other roles was to kind of be a resource for those on the spectrum or parents and trying to navigate this diagnosis, but also siblings as well, who are also going through some some challenges. So I think sharing those two disparate perspectives is kind of a unique role that we have. And we try to get others involved in the important advocacy work, their messages and their ideas out there as well.
HR:
Haley, what advice would you have for people out there who are competing in pageants that may be on the spectrum?
HL:
That’s a great question. I think. The Miss America organization is very accepting and very open to all types of women. Whether it’s your background, or you know where you are, where you come from, and I think having someone on the spectrum would just add another layer of acceptance and inclusion into our organization. We actually had a young woman who competed for the title of Miss America a few years ago. And if I remember correctly, her name was Alexis Weinman. And I think she was Miss Montana. But she was on the autism spectrum. And I can remember being a younger woman and watching that and thinking what a wonderful opportunity to bring acceptance, awareness and inclusion onto the national stage. So I would certainly encourage any young woman interested in competing to go for it, and you have a home in the Miss America organization.
HR:
Matthew, can you tell us a bit about your books?
ML:
Of course. So the first book that we wrote was well over 10 years ago, when I was maybe 13, and Hayley was 15. So we wrote the book to help spread awareness. So Hayley, in middle school in early high school created an organization called Halley’s heroes. And its sole purpose was to spread awareness in our local school systems on autism. And one of the things that we did was we wrote a book called See The Able, Not The Label. And it was a nonfiction account written in both our perspectives. And it really opened people’s eyes because our community is very tiny. I had maybe 300 People in my graduating senior class. And I will tell you, their perspective on autism changed when Haley went into the classrooms and basically said, This is what my brother has, this is how he sees things. And I remember writing down on paper, you know, like, this is how it feels like to have autism. You know, like, this is what the early days were like, and this is what it is now. You know, it really made people understand some of the issues and struggles that I go with every day.
HR:
What has been, Matthew, your biggest obstacle along the way? What’s the one thing that gives you a hard time?
ML:
What really gives me a hard time and I still somewhat go through it every day is just basic social interaction. But then again, when you’re on a campus with 1000s of people every day, and I literally just started class a week ago, so I’m still getting used to meeting everyone. But you know, it’s just hard to start a conversation with someone that you really do not know, on a personal level. But compared to when I was a little kid, I’ve come a very long way. I mean, I’m already making friends in my classes today. So you know, it just shows you how far I’ve come.
HR:
That’s, that’s really great. From the sibling’s point of view. Haley, what would you say has been the biggest challenge?
HL:
I really struggled in middle school and that’s when Matthew first entered middle school because the way it worked in our community, we went from a very small elementary school to a very big middle school. And when that happened, Matthew experienced quite a bit of bullying, just students not understanding the different struggles he had, especially socially. And as his big sister, all I wanted to do was protect him. And that caused, you know, a lot of personal. You know, it was hard to see your siblings struggle, I think it would be hard for anybody, but especially when it’s something that he can’t help and he’s trying his best to go to school every day and to fit in and to socialize. And that’s what really inspired Hayley’s Heroes, which like Matthew said, we collaborated, and I went into his classrooms, I went into my classrooms and educated my peers on autism. But I just hate, you know, the fact that I know other siblings are going through that, that same frustration, I’m seeing their their sibling struggle and social interactions and other areas. So if I can be a resource and can do anything to raise awareness and teach inclusion, I mean, that’s really been my life goal. And it’s what I want to continue to do for the rest of my life as an attorney continuing to advocate for those on the spectrum. So, you know, just being that that resource to other peers is something that’s been really important to me because of those struggles that I encountered early on.
HR:
How can people learn more about the both of you?
HL:
Well, I would say that I have my own linktree website that if you go to my Miss Missouri page, you can find that there. But Matthew, and I, like I said, you can find us on our podcast, it’s on Apple and Spotify podcast called “Puzzles in Progress”. So you can find more about us there. In both of our books see that April, not the label. And Frankie and Ben are also available through Amazon, Barnes and Noble books, a million all of those major retailers. But I would say just, you know, we post a lot together on my social media account, Miss Missouri, so be sure to follow that. In, we’ll constantly be keeping people informed on the work that we’re doing advocacy wise, and just in our daily lives, too.
HR:
Is there anything we have not covered that you guys would like to cover?
ML:
As far as I know, nothing’s coming to mind. What about you, Hayley?
HL:
Well, I think if Matthew and I can be a resource or attended events or do anything to help those in the community, we we certainly want to be a resource. And I think what’s really powerful about like I said earlier, Matthew’s message is that he is a self advocate. And I think it’s so wonderful for parents sometimes to be able to ask Matthew questions, you know, if their child is on the spectrum, because he he remembers what it was like when he was first diagnosed, and some of those early things that were problematic for him or how it felt to go to public school and, and be immersed in a classroom with other students. So I think, if we can be a resource to anybody else, feel free to reach out to us, message us on social media, or invite us to come to events, and we’re happy to share our message and do what we can to advocate for others.
HR:
What has the reception been to your advocacy so far?
HL:
I think we’ve had really positive responses. And like I was saying earlier, the title of Miss Missouri kind of amplifies that. And I felt like Matthew and I were getting a lot of traction. And we’re able to do a lot of things, just as Haley and Matthew, before I won the title. But I do think after winning Miss Missouri, it’s almost like the crown is sort of like my microphone, and people want to hear from us and want us to be involved in things. And I think Matthew and I are just really excited for the opportunities to come because everything has been so positive. And we just want to do what we can to support the community. Matthew, do you have any anything that to add on that?
ML:
I think you touched on everything. Just like you said, everything has been really positive. And I think we’ve been having a better chance at getting the message out to a larger crowd.
HR:
Well, Matthew Leach and Haley Leach. Thank you so much for spending this time with us here at different brains and we hope that you won’t be a stranger and I wish you good luck in all of your endeavors. And good luck in the Miss America contest to Haley.
HL:
Thank you so much. We appreciate your time and effort and talking to us today.
ML:
Thank you for having us here.
