Autistic Professor

I feel so seen!

This is why I do the advocacy work I do: because a lifetime of masking, misunderstanding, exclusion and trauma has such big consequences for ageing autistic people

[note: I realise there is another discussion to be had about “people with autistic traits”]

Middle-aged and older adults with autistic traits face rising anxiety over time | King's College London A major UK study has found that while most middle-aged and older adults experience low levels of anxiety, a small group of people with higher autistic traits are much more likely to report that their anxiety worsens as they age.

What a fun day. Speaking on and at State Conference

The TLDR: Autistic parents (diagnosed or otherwise) are more likely to have autistic children
(An important study in that it discounts a harmful myth - although some of the terminology in the article is a bit off-putting)

Parental mental health — not medication — drives autism correlation, new study finds A new study finds no evidence that antidepressant medications cause autism.

As a knitter (who is never without my needles and has dozens of crates or yarn) and a doll collector (with over 2000 dolls), this really resonates. Although as I get older I am finding that my doll collecting, which was ‘normal’ for a young girl is seen by some as a little strange for an older woman - but my knitting, which was seen as ‘weird’ for a teenager is a very socially acceptable behaviour for an ageing woman

When Special Interests Look Typical: Understanding the Hidden Intensity in Autistic Girls How autistic girls’ intense interests can go unnoticed and why recognizing them matters for emotional wellbeing and accurate diagnosis.

It’s very noisy in my house today (because I’m the only one here) [image not created by me and I can’t find artist ID]

Mental health care services need to do better - they need to understand autistic experiences of the world, they need to listen to us, and they need to believe us when we describe our experiences (although that doesn’t only apply to mental health services)

Autistic adults’ experiences of accessing and receiving mental health care and their priorities for improvements: A qualitative study Autistic adults are disproportionately affected by mental health conditions yet face significant barriers in accessing support and receiving suitable care. To understand this disparity better, using qualitative methods, we investigated the experiences of autistic adults in accessing and receiving me...

The Double Empathy Problem in pretty pictures - yes, ‘science’ supports what Milton told us (and autistic people intuitively know)
[journal article abstract in comments]

Brain scans reveal new clues about autism and social bonds New brain imaging research suggests that people with similar autistic traits connect more easily with one another and synchronize their brain activity in unique ways during conversation, challenging the long-standing view of autism as primarily a social impairment, reports a Qazinform News Agency co...

Still looking for a few more participants (:>)
We know what the PROBLEMS are, now we need some SOLUTIONS
Are you Autistic, a Parent, AND working (or have worked) in healthcare, education, social services, or research?
We are conducting the next stage of our research into autistic adults' experiences of parenting.
NOTE - it might be worth doing the four open-ended questions in a word processing program (eg Word or even Notes) and pasting into the form so that if you get interrupted (or have an internet issue) you can come back to the survey and don't lose your great ideas.
PARTICIPATION INVOLVES:
Completing three sequential online surveys (approx 6 weeks apart)
• Making suggestions as to good practice for supporting autistic parents
• Rating suggestions for feasibility and appropriateness
Why are we doing this study?
The limited research that exists suggests autistic parents experience significant challenges in their interactions with healthcare, education and social services. However, little attention is paid to how service providers could better support autistic parents in their parenting journey. This project seeks to establish and test a set of principles informed by autistic people who have experience both as parents and as service providers.
This autistic-led project was approved by the University of Southern Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee: ETH2026-0014
To find out more about the study: https://tinyurl.com/msp3sasp
To participate: https://tinyurl.com/52r84jvd or scan the QR code

What a lovely review of my book Autistics at Work by Tim Chan on Goodreads - there is something special about feedback like this from an autistic advocate I have always admired.