Why do autistic women and girls experience greater mental health challenges? Studies have shown anxiety was found to be higher in autistic females than their male peers?

Why is that? Is it the internalised and hidden anxiety? Is it societies expectations? Is it a lifetime of masking? Lack of acceptance? Lack of understanding? Misdiagnosis?

Today we will begin to dive deeper and have a closer look at these topics. But we really are just hitting the tip of the ice burg.

As an organisation committed to supporting autistic girls and women, we take this matter seriously. We have submitted reports the the UN, spoken at parliamentary inquires, worked with the government to create events like this, so we can bring the issues to the forefront. Most recently, as part of the current mental health inquiry, we made sure our tribe was represented. But we just feel like there is so much more to do. I call on each of you to go forward and help us begin this revolution of change.

Not just for yourself, or your daughter, but for all the generations gone by, of autistic women not understood, not supported, accepted or celebrated. We owe it to them. We owe it to us. We owe it to the future generations. We can only achieve this, if we unite as a community. We need everyone to share their stories. We need to hear more about autistic shutdowns and autistic burnout, we need to learn our triggers and de escalation strategies that might help. We need to hear directly from the lived experience. We need health professionals, teachers, parents and allies to listen to what is going on. We need acceptance, understanding and support.

We need change.

And change begins with listening. Deep listening. And have we got some amazing speakers to listen to…