How Amber Realised “Postpartum Anxiety” Was Autistic Burnout
In this episode, Angela talks with Amber Covucci, a late-diagnosed Autistic attorney and mom, to unpack the unravelling that came during pregnancy, early parenting, and a high-pressure legal career.
In this meeting of The Late Diagnosis Club, Dr Angela Kingdon welcomes Amber Covucci — a late-diagnosed Autistic attorney, mother of two, and brilliant pattern-matcher who spent decades thinking she was “just sensitive” before discovering she was Autistic in her mid-30s.
Amber shares how the chaos of early parenting, two difficult pregnancies, and a high-pressure legal career finally made her Autistic traits impossible to overlook. What she was told was that postpartum anxiety was actually Autistic burnout, sensory overload, and CPTSD — and knowing this changed everything.
Together, Angela and Amber explore Autistic motherhood, masking, sensory life, high-achieving burnout, and raising neurodivergent kids while still learning how to accommodate their own needs.
🎧 Listen to this episode:
🪑 Attendees
Chair: Dr Angela Kingdon — Author, community-builder, and Autistic advocate
Guest: Amber Covucci — Autistic attorney, writer, and mother
You: The Listener!
🗒️ Meeting Agenda
Opening remarks from the Chair
Member introduction: Amber’s Autistic childhood & early masking
Discussion: Pregnancy, postpartum, sensory overwhelm & burnout
Key learnings
Club announcements
🧾 Minutes from the Meeting
1️⃣ Opening Remarks
Angela welcomes listeners into a conversation many autistic mothers rarely hear reflected: what happens when your mask collapses under the sensory, emotional, and logistical weight of early parenthood.
2️⃣ Member Introduction: Amber’s story
From childhood, Amber felt different: intensely focused (“too much attention disorder”), deeply sensitive, academically exceptional, and physically overwhelmed by clothing, noise, and transitions.
Despite high achievement — gifted programs, top grades, law school — she also experienced chronic burnout, shutdowns, and sensory barriers nobody recognised as Autistic traits.
It wasn’t until a major legal trial, extreme sensory overload in a shared workspace, and pregnancy with her second child that Amber finally began to ask questions.
3️⃣ Discussion Highlights
Missed Signs: Sensory overwhelm, hyperfocus, and lifelong burnout are misunderstood.
Pregnancy & Postpartum: What looked like “postpartum anxiety” was Autistic burnout.
Birth & Autonomy: Sensory-safe support and control made labour manageable.
Work & Burnout: Deep-focus strengths paired with crash-level recovery needs.
Autistic Parenting: New language and compassion for her own and her children’s needs.
4️⃣ Key Learnings
Late diagnosis brings relief, not limitation
Sensory overwhelm is not weakness — it’s information
Autistic parents can be extraordinary caregivers
You can redesign your life once you understand your brain
Diagnosis isn’t necessary for belonging — self-knowledge is
📣 Club Announcements
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📌 Check the LDC Notice Board for Member Contributions
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🎙️ Executive Producers
Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.
🎧 Producers
AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.
Thanks for this wonderfully informative conversation