Patient spotlight: Alice’s journey with Autism
To celebrate Autism Acceptance Month and World Autism Acceptance Day, we spoke with Alice, a service user who was diagnosed later in life to share how her diagnosis has impacted her. Alice was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 45 and felt that since then, her life began to make sense to her and she’s now able to understand herself better.
Autism isn’t a mental health problem but you may be more likely to experience mental health problems if you are autistic. Mind notes “some experiences of autism overlap with symptoms of mental health problems. This can mean that experiences of autism are mistaken for mental health problems.”
Discussing her diagnosis, Alice said: “I actually cried with relief because suddenly, my life made sense and I was able to start a journey of self discovery and understanding that my previous crisis episodes which were treated as mental health issues were actually sensory issues and meltdowns.”
This year, there is a shift from awareness to acceptance - moving beyond simply recognising autism to actively valuing, respecting and including autistic individuals in every aspect of society.
We recently shared some of Alice's artwork for Neurodiversity Celebration Week. Alice is a talented artist whose work invites us to reflect on what it feels like to experience the world when your mind processes information differently. Read more: Celebrating neurodiversity: embracing creativity, strength and inclusion | Our blog - South London and Maudsley
Alice said: “I’m really passionate about helping to change the stigma around autism and stop it being a barrier to access treatment. Just because your brain is wired differently and the world might not be set up for people like us, it doesn’t mean that we don’t fit in the world.”
Watch the full video to find out more about Alice’s journey: https://youtu.be/Rh1s54d7bHM
Thank you so much to Alice for sharing her story with us!
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