Abel Torres-Espin

Assistant adjunct professor
Brain and Spinal Injury Center (BASIC) University of California, San Francisco

Abel Torres-Espin is assistant professor at the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo in Canada; adjunct professor at the University of Alberta and assistant adjunct professor at the Brain and Spinal Injury Center in the Weill Institute of Neurosciences at University of California, San Francisco.

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When Autistic Kids Grow Up.

When autistic kids grow up

An autistic researcher’s paper called attention to a huge disparity in autism funding research between children and adults. It nearly derailed her life.

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 2 min listen
Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 2: “You need to go to college”

With just a high school equivalency degree and struggling as a single mother, Tempest McDonald is forced to shift her priorities.

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 28 min listen
Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 1: Those people

What leads an autism researcher to publish an intentionally inflammatory paper accusing the NIH of discrimination?

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 24 min listen