Please join me in congratulating my incredible PhD student @tanachikaura.bsky.social ! www.cam.ac.uk/news/cambrid...

Our new qualitative paper exploring similarities and differences in quality of life of autistic/non-autistic folk in midlife and older age (led by 2 former students, with @proffrancescahappe.bsky.social and @goldage.bsky.social) is now out!

Free access here: doi.org/10.1016/j.re...

#AutRes

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We are recruiting postdocs! Please apply if you'd like to study the health profiles of autistic people using large population registries at the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. Funding available until January 2027. jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/50393/

“Challenges in accessing healthcare are likely to be multifactorial & this may be particularly true for individuals w/ marginalised, intersectional identities. This was echoed by our focus group who felt the identified disparities could be a result of both TGD-related difficulties & autistic traits”

"Autistic individuals have poorer self-reported healthcare experiences and increased health risks, particularly regarding mental health."

"Current healthcare systems must prioritise equity in healthcare for transgender/gender diverse autistic individuals."

"The study’s design, as a lengthy online survey, also likely precluded the inclusion of some autistic individuals with intellectual disabilities."

So, this data might look different if the population were selected differently but I think that the themes are valid, important, and bear repeating:

Important new #autres research.
After a distressing encounter with a #healthcare assistant I told the practice manager at my medical centre that appointments often feel like getting into a tankful of sharks.
They’ve known that I’m #Autistic for 6 years, but I’ve only just shared that I’m #nonbinary.

We need more research on making the world a more welcoming place for #AutRes and gender-diverse people! I'm hoping my research in the school context may help find some ways forward thegoo.se/categories/p...

GREAT study w/ important notes: "Participants who suspected autism, were self-diagnosed, or were waiting assessment were also excluded, meaning findings may not apply to these individuals who are not expected to be receiving reasonable adjustments relating to autism in their healthcare." 🧵

Autistic transgender/gender diverse individuals face higher rates of mental and physical health conditions and report poorer health care experiences compared to their non-autistic cisgender peers. doi.org/g82jrw

New #AutRes demonstrating the need for future research to address the well-being of transgender/gender diverse autistic folks…The authors found TGD adults were 10.9 times more likely to report a mental health condition & 5.8 times more likely to report self-harm than cisgender non-autistic adults.

New paper out #openaccess in Molecular Autism today that shows #autistic #trans #nonbinary and #genderdiverse (TGD) people are more likely to have physical and mental health conditions than nonautistic cisgender people. Alongside this, they also reported poorer quality #healthcare bit.ly/4geRRlC

Looking forward to engaging with others about #autismresearch and #neurodiversity