Proud to have worked with @bendybrain.bsky.social on this, refuting overdiagnosis of autism and ADHD, published this week in @bmj.com These narratives undermine the genuine challenges that many neurodivergent people face in systems designed without them in mind #AutRes www.bmj.com/content/392/...
You can also find a summary of the paper by @universitypress.cambridge.org here
We are grateful to our participants, community engagement partners, and
funders: @autistica.org.uk , The Autism Research Trust (legacy work now managed by @autismaction.bsky.social ), Queen Anne's Gate Foundation, Mishcon de Reya LLP with support from Gesher School and the @nihrarcs.bsky.social
While this study is an important step forward, much more work is needed to understand these relationships, including in larger and population representative samples. Our study couldn’t capture the full range of traumatic experiences or the impact of repeated or chronic instances of trauma
The study also finds that trauma does not fully explain the psychological distress and suicidality of autistic people. We need to understand what other factors are contributing to these increased risks, so that we can provide better suicide prevention and mental health support for autistic people
In addition, it demonstrates that different types of traumatic experiences are associated with different types of psychological distress and suicidality. This needs to be investigated further, but it is an important step towards understanding these relationships in a more nuanced way
This is the largest study to date on this topic and it provides support for the idea that experiencing a greater number of traumas increases the likelihood of experiencing different types of psychological distress and suicidality—and that these appear to follow dose-response relationships
My fantastic PhD student @tanachikaura.bsky.social has published her first first-author paper today on self-reported lifetime traumatic experiences, psychological distress, and risk of suicidality among autistic adults. As the paper provides details on these issues, please take care when reading
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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Also adding to #AutRes. Apologies for missing this out. I’m still getting the hang of BlueSky!
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”
Really glad to hear that they are taking it seriously and seem to want to make changes. And how you are feeling about all of it makes a lot of sense
"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:
It sounds like your research will help us to answer important questions about improving support within schools. I’ll certainly be interested in hearing more about what you find in your PhD!
Very sorry to hear about this experience, though it aligns with what many of our participants reported too. I hope that your practice makes changes, and that we can push forward change on a more systemic level with more research in this area
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.
Just moved over to BlueSky today and adding in #AutRes at the very kind recommendation of @gavrobstew.bsky.social so that those interested will be able to find this paper more easily. Looking forward to engaging more with other autism researchers on here in future!
Huge thanks to my collaborators including Kate Green, Lily Wright, Carrie Allison, and Simon Baron-Cohen. This research would not have been possible without our participants or funders @cpft-nhs.bsky.social @cpftresearch.bsky.social, Rosetrees Trust, and ACE
The study highlights important #inequities for #autistic #trans #nonbinary and #genderdiverse (TGD) people in #health and #healthcare quality. Clinicians should be aware of additional barriers to healthcare and increased health risks, including increased risk of self-harm
The study also found that #autistic #trans #nonbinary and #genderdiverse (TGD) people were 5.8 times more likely to report lifetime self-harm than non-autistic cisgender people
