April is Autism Acceptance Month and it is the first April in my life since I’ve been diagnosed as being autistic. I think that is significant, what’s more so is that I am a youth worker now studying my Master in Social Work or MSW. This I know is something that might confuse people; how does someone with a neurological condition like Autism which is associated with social and interpersonal difficulties end up interested and has learning and working experience in sectors that emphasise social interaction. First off, I didn’t always know I was autistic. I’m in fact a late diagnosed person that received her diagnosis at the age of 30 as someone now adopts the community identity of being AuDHD (Autistic and ADHD). Prior to that, I’ve had a life starting with volunteering with youth spaces to studying my bachelor’s degree in Youth Work and about six years of professional experience since commencing that degree. I started out that career in spaces that were in hindsight, autistic-friendly spaces. Volunteering for an autistic person serves a lot of proposes for them such as a role to practice social interaction, participation in a community, and opportunities for them to showcase their skills and strengths that is associated with Autism such as problem solving, creativity, deep empathy, and resourcing. I always felt a bit out of step, but I recognise my neuro-peers in those spaces that also end up in jobs and careers in caring professions – turns out I am not the only one. In fact, I am not the only one. In my Masters, I’ve set up a group chat online just for neurodivergent students that are in my study cohort. Out of the known number of the whole student cohort of the master’s degree, a third of them signed up. Although the group is welcomed to anyone identifying with any neurotype that falls under the neurodivergent umbrella, I’m confident to say that there is a high representation of autistic students within that group. The group is a safe space for us to share resources, because of course we are all resource royalty, about neurodiversity and navigating study and social work as neurodivergent legends regardless we decided to be open or closeted about our identities. Nonetheless, the large number of us in this space goes to show that we are living demonstration that debunks a lot of myths around Autism and it opens a discussion on how our neurotypes have strengths within the sector. I decided to be open about my neuro-identity. Even though stigma exists for Autistic and ADHD people, I figured that being open would come with positives. The first comes to mind is working with clients; what does it mean for them, especially if they are also from the Autistic and ADHD communities, that an openly AuDHD person so happens to be their social worker? It’s possible that having the same neurotypes can lend a level of empathy that otherwise might not be possible with allistic or neurotypical people. I know that I’ve connected well with autistic and adhd young people in the past; I joked that we so happened to be on the same radio frequency, so we were able to connect well with one another. But also, representation matters as autistic people are often excluded from employment and community participation. If I were to go with the radio puns (and somehow, I know I and other autistic people love a good pun), I have been fine tuning my understanding of Autism with intensive deep dives into resources from books, podcasts, ted talks, and AuTok (the TikTok Autistic community). Not only has improved my self-development, but it has provided reflective insight to past experiences as a youth worker. I am now confident to say I have enough knowledge to educate others with not just the resources I’ve accessed but also with my own example. Autism makes sense of my own identity, it makes sense of my social (and I emphasise here, positive) interactions and interests, and it also makes sense of my position to pursue lived experience practice as I transition into social work. Lived experience practice is something I’ve been interested in for a while. It started with me participating in the National Autistic Strategy forums late in 2023 when I socialised with autistic people and their families. Their reaction that an autistic person being a youth or social work position light them up with interest. Fast forward to now, I am in negotiation with my first placement to explore what developing a lived experience practice could look like in their organisation branch. The journey of being open in the space I am in feels rewarding, affirming, and cathartic. Advocating for myself in these spaces is also opening avenues to advocating for other autistic people.

I am not done with the journey; in fact, I think I will continue with blogging my experiences of developing a lived experience practice in child and family social work. I’ll also be creating a resource page on the topic of Autism and ADHD in this website. But if you are reading this and you are in youth, community, and social work yourself and you are also neurospicy…I see you and see your strengths and struggles. Let a new era of authentic and holistic advocacy begin!