Annual Update - 2024

Trigger warnings: pregnancy and pregnancy loss.

Hello everyone! 

Why am I seeing this? 

When you registered your interest in taking part in Autism: From Menstruation to Menopause, you requested updates on our project. 

If you would no longer like to receive this email, please let us know (eg: you can reply “unsubscribe” or “stop”). 

If you would like an easy read version – let us know by submitting a form on our website or by email. 

What we’ve been up to: 

The research itself: 

• We asked people if they wanted to take part in the study – we had over 1,000 people reply! 

• We are in the process of finishing recruitment and welcoming new members to our research team. 

• Our interviews with participants are underway and going well. 

• We won an award for inclusive research practice from Autism CRC. 

Talking about the study: 

We’ve presented at lots of conferences and events, including talking about puberty, periods, pregnancy, breastfeeding and menopause. 

Here’s Aimee’s, our lead investigator, talk on Autistic experiences of pregnancy loss and associated healthcare for the Centre for Research in Autism and Education (CRAE):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiIegsmFo6U&list=PLNFJKYGOAjdEj-EV3JUDMg7NK1Z9RdhRw 

Here’s a link to Aimee’s talk “To transform autism research, ask Autistic people”, for Health and Care Research Wales:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qM9864WxpzM 

Awards: 

Aimee has won a research award from Autism CRC, Australia’s independent source of best practice in relation to autism. Here’s a link to an article on it: 

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2024/11/academic-awarded-for-inclusive-research-practice.php  

Aimee, our lead investigator, has been recognised by the national disability charity Sense. Here’s a link to an article on it: 

https://www.swansea.ac.uk/press-office/news-events/news/2024/12/swansea-university-academic-wins-national-campaigner-of-the-year-award.php  

Publications: 

We’ve published these articles with The Conversation: 

• Why autistic people must be at the heart of autism research 

• Alexithymia: why some people find it so hard to identify emotions, and how this affects them 

• How autistic parents feel about breastfeeding and the support they receive – new research 

• No evidence to show whether autism health passports are effective – new review 

And these papers:  

Williams, G. L., et al. (2024). ‘Building our own house’ as an insider-only Community-Partnered Participatory Research Council: Co-creating a safe space for Autistic knowledge production. 

Grant, A., et al. (2024). Co-developing an Autism Research Funding Application to Facilitate Ethical and Participatory Research: The Autism from Menstruation to Menopause Project. The Palgrave Handbook of Research Methods and Ethics in Neurodiversity Studies 

Summaries of both papers are available on our Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/autismm2m/ 

You might also be interested in our: 

TiKToK: AutismM2M 

Website: www.autismmenstruationtomenopause.com 

Facebook groups: Menstruation to menopause research: Autistic community group and Dr Aimee Grant: Autism from menstruation to menopause  

And Youtube: @AutismMenstruationToMenopause 

Coming up (in 2025): 

• We’ll interview the same participants again and start looking at some of the data we’ve already collected. 

• We hope to finish reviews of existing research on periods, puberty and menopause. 

• When Science finds a way – The Wellcome Trust podcast 

When Science Finds a Way | Podcast | Wellcome 

• We’ll be sharing it all on our social media. 

Wishing you all a happy end to the year, 

Aimee, Becky, Harriet, Krysia, Ami and the whole Autism Menstruation to Menopause team