Photo collage featuring Tempest McDonald.
Illustration by Mark Harris / Source: Tempest McDonald
Podcasts / When autistic kids grow up
Add us as a Preferred Source on Google

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 3: Would there be data?

Tempest McDonald takes a postdoctoral position at Vanderbilt University. Researching her paper accusing the National Institutes of Health of discrimination threatens everything she has built.

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 1 min read

In Chapter 3 of “When autistic kids grow up,” Tempest McDonald moves her son and father into her home in Nashville, and tensions rise for her at Vanderbilt.

Read the transcript. Listen to Chapters 1 and 2.

Tempest McDonald stands with her arm around Colleen Moore.
More mentoring: When Tempest McDonald was researching her NIH funding gap paper, she reached out to her previous mentor, Colleen Moore (left).
All images courtesy of Tempest McDonald
Terry and Avis McDonald outside of Terry’s homestead in Tennessee.
Tiny home: For a while, McDonald’s son, Avis, lived with Terry (gray shirt) at the homestead Terry built in the little town of Finger, Tennessee.

Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Catch up on what you missed from our recent coverage, and get breaking news alerts.

Explore more from The Transmitter

When Autistic Kids Grow Up.
When autistic kids grow up Microphone

When autistic kids grow up

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 2 min listen
Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.
When autistic kids grow up Microphone

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

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 28 min listen
Photo collage of Tempest McDonald.
When autistic kids grow up Microphone

When autistic kids grow up, Chapter 1: Those people

By Brady Huggett
18 June 2026 | 24 min listen