Internalized presentation of autism and neurodiversity affirming supports and accommodations

Have you ever wondered if you or your child might be autistic without fitting the common stereotypes of autism? Perhaps you know of autistic people in your family? Perhaps you have sensory sensitivities, find repetitive activities calming, and find social situations exhausting, but you might be able to 'go under the radar' to fit in with societal expectations (also known as masking and camouflaging). Perhaps your family's quirkiness has been explained by giftedness, when actually autism may be another part of the story. Maybe autism is part of what makes you able to concentrate on one thing at a time, build detailed mental models, or to see patterns that others miss.

We'll explore the 'internalized presentation of autism', first thought of as a 'female presentation of autism' but now understood to be common across all genders. How autism and giftedness fall within neurodiversity, and some neurodiversity affirming supports and accommodations that are often helpful - you may have already discovered some of these.

Lydia Meem

Lydia is a neurodivergent clinical psychologist, founder of the Autism Understanding psychology practice in Newcastle, and author of Beyond IQ Scores: A handbook for clinicians providing neurodiversity affirming cognitive and developmental assessments. Lydia recently hosted the Neurodivergent Clinician Symposium in Melbourne, with an all-divergent line-up of health professionals sharing both their lived experience and clinical expertise around neurodiversity affirming practice. Lydia first became interested in autism is 1994, and she is still happy to weave autism into any conversation. Her other passions include Zumba, the psychology of living in space and other extreme environments, and Egyptian archeology.