Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

Why we need to start talking about the risk of trauma for those with autism.

It is a sad truth that the majority of the early research into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was done with young children, most of whom were boys. It is hard to find research into the lives of adults with autism before 2000 and virtually impossible to find research on adult women with autism. As an autistic woman, it is frustrating for me to know that the quality of life of adults with autism was ignored for decades. This has led to several massive problems that are only now coming to light. One of these problems is the extraordinarily high number of women with autism that have been through serious trauma and meet diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Andrew Beasley was quickly losing his cool. It was October 2015, and he was about two years into his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution, Fort Dix in New Jersey.

Beasley, then 32, had left his MP3 player on a charging station in the facility’s computer room, but when he went to retrieve it, it was gone. He thought he knew who had it and frantically started to look for the man.

“I’m forgetting politics. I’m forgetting everything. I’m just looking for my MP3 player,” says Beasley, who had been diagnosed with autism two years earlier.

MINNEAPOLIS – Autism is considered a disorder of the brain. But a new study suggests that the peripheral nervous system, the nerves that control our sense of touch, pain and other sensations, may play a role as well. The exploratory study is published in the October 14, 2020, online issue of Neurology^®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Michael Marshall

Anxiety in adolescents with autism is a strong predictor of suicidal ideation, bipolar disorder, depression and other psychiatric conditions in early adulthood, according to a large new study in Sweden¹.

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your message and your support to the work of the Committee.

Dear Mr Basharu

Autism Aspergers Advocacy Australia, known as A4, observes that your Committee published its “Concluding Observations: UN Report on Australia’s Review of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disability (CRPD), 24 September 2019”. A4 greatly appreciates your efforts to hold Australia to its international obligations in relation to people with disabilities.

A4 is puzzled and disappointed that your Concluding Observations make no reference to autistic Australians. Excluding autistic Australians from your observations leaves them feeling that a crucial human rights body fails to recognise their needs and right.