Presentation overview: Society Doing Better - Autism Acceptance as a Mental Health Issue

Presenter: Monique Botha 

This talk will cover:

• Stigma, discrimination, and marginalization are formative experiences for autistic people.
• Evidence shows poor mental health isn't inherent to autism, instead, anxiety and depression are predicted by the experiences autistic people have in society.
• Autistic people tend to find autism acceptance with other autistic people, in the vibrant autistic community.
• Society needs to change - autistic acceptance is a mental health issue. 

About the presenter

Monique is an autistic Research Fellow at the University of Stirling. Monique’s PhD in Psychology from the University of Surrey, focused on the role minority stress plays in the poor mental health experienced by autistic people, and further, how autistic community connectedness may “buffer” those effects.

As an autistic academic research autism, Monique is passionate about meaningful research which has the ability to change lives for the better. Prior to being in research Monique spent several years working as a social care practitioner in the community with autistic children and their families. As such, Monique finds it important to have close links between research and practice and is dedicated to making research with real world and practice impact.