PROGRESS

Double Trouble: Navigating trans healthcare while autistic

CFUV // Leo Rutherford — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:33:18 -0800

This episode of the PROGRESS podcast is hosted by Noah Adams, an autistic and trans researcher and activist. Today we dive into the experience of being autistic and going through bottom surgery. We’ll be talking to Shane, who will be telling us about his experience surgically transitioning as an autistic trans man in Western Europe. As a reminder, within the PROGRESS study, 40% of our participants self described as neurodiverse and 18% of this group identified as autistic. Autistic PROGRESS participants were statistically much more likely to be denied emergency (15%) or urgent (13%) care after surgery. In spite of this, roughly 70% of autistic participants reported that their surgery recovery was not very challenging, and the vast majority were satisfied with surgical outcomes.

Special thanks to Waad Judah for his editing, co-production, research assistance and support on this episode, Leo Rutherford for his co-production and Noah Adams for his co-production, interviewing and hosting. Thank you to our editor and co-producer Nicola Watts for their unwavering support in this project. You can find Noah's book of interviews with trans autistic folks, Trans and Autistic: Stories From Life at the Intersection, online (https://us.jkp.com/products/trans-and-autistic).

Thank you to CFUV for their support with podcast distribution!

Preparing for phalloplasty and metoidioplasty

CFUV // Leo Rutherford — Thu, 08 Jun 2023 09:00:00 -0700

In this episode, I interview our first guest about the experience of preparing for phalloplasty and metoidioplasty. While talking about the results from the survey about the process of preparing, the guest and I share our thoughts about what helped us and what can change in the future to better prepare folks planning to have surgery. My guest and I both had phallo is 2016, but about half of the PROGRESS participants had surgery in the last two years. Tune in to hear how my guests and my experience differ from and are similar to those who took the PROGRESS survey! Please note we use anatomic language to describe body parts in the episode and cover some aspects of preparation and recovery from surgery that may be challenging to think about.

Understanding bias in research and what that means for phallo/meta research

CFUV // Leo Rutherford — Fri, 21 Apr 2023 09:00:00 -0700

Through an interview with one of my research supervisors, Dr. Ayden Scheim, this episode shares information about how to understand research as it relates to phalloplasty and metoidioplasty. We discuss the ways in which characteristics of research participants bias or confound research - don't worry we'll explain what that means! The overall goal is for you to walk away from this episode understanding that research results vary and do not always represent the experience of everyone who has phallo or meta. After listening, you'll have a better understanding of how to interpret research about these surgeries; specifically you'll gain more knowledge about how data can't predict what will happen for any given individual but how research results can be useful when thinking about or preparing for surgery.

Intro to PROGRESS and a phalloplasty/metoidioplasty 101.

CFUV // Leo Rutherford — Fri, 03 Mar 2023 14:03:17 -0800

This episode of the PROGRESS podcast will give you an overview of our research project, including who our team is, our research methods, what topics were included in our survey and how we plan to use the results. After that overview, I interview Logan Berrian, RN and Director of the San Francisco Transgender Institute for a phalloplasty/metoidioplasty 101 and FAQ. Join us to learn the basics of these surgeries and the answers to a few frequently asked questions. You can check out more about our research, see community-focused content and more on our website, progresscolab.net or follow us on social media @progresscolab.

Music by ispeakwaves from freesound.org
Tape recorder sound by Pogotron from freesound.org

PROGRESS teaser

CFUV // Leo Rutherford — Tue, 01 Nov 2022 15:08:52 -0700

Welcome to the PROGRESS podcast! This two-minute teaser will tell you everything you need to know about what the podcast.

The PROGRESS podcast is all about sharing results of a research project about phalloplasty and metoidioplasty and giving context to these results by interviewing folks about their experiences with phallo and meta. PROGRESS was a survey about preparing for, recovering from and changes after surgery; there were many topics included and some of these will be featured through this podcast series. Join us in the first episode for an intro to the project, a phallo and meta 101. In the second episode we will talk about research and everyone can learn a thing or two. The rest of the episodes get into our data and include interviews with community members about the many aspects of these surgeries addressed in our project. You can check out more about our research, see community-focused content and more on our website, progresscolab.net or follow us on social media @progresscolab.