On this 8 March – International Women’s Day – Autism-Europe calls for the unique challenges faced by autistic women to be recognised and addressed. This year, Autism-Europe marks Women’s Day by releasing three videos in which autistic women tell their stories. The videos created by Anne, An and Patricia are the first to be published on the new “Not Invisible” platform.
Initially launched in April 2024, the “Not Invisible” campaign points out the often-overlooked challenges autistic people encounter every day. By showcasing lived experiences from across the autism community, the campaign promotes a deeper understanding and advocates for autistic people to be valued and included.
We are particularly proud to launch this initiative with videos by autistic women. Autistic women often face unique challenges that can be compounded by societal expectations and gender norms. These challenges include:
- Late diagnosis and lack of access to lifelong support: Many autistic women are diagnosed later in life (or not at all), often due to the misconception that autism predominantly affects males. This delay can result in a critical lack of support.
- Lack of support for mental health: Autistic women are even more likely to experience mental health issues such as anxiety and depression, often due to the pressures of masking their autistic traits to fit societal expectations.
- Employment barriers: Autistic women frequently encounter difficulties in the workplace, including discrimination and a lack of understanding from employers and colleagues. While autistic men face similar challenges, the pressure on women to conform to certain behaviour norms generally is higher.
- Violence: Studies have shown that autistic women are three times more likely to be sexually assaulted or abused than non-autistic women are.
- Forced sterilisation : As of February 2024, at least 12 EU member states still allowed women with disabilities, including autism, to be sterilized against their will.
Sharing Stories of the autism community
At the heart of the “Not Invisible” campaign is the belief that autistic people and their representative organisations must be fully involved in shaping policies and other factors that impact their lives. For too long, autistic people have been excluded from these discussions. This campaign seeks to change that by making autistic people seen – and heard.
The three women’s videos are only the start. They, and many more, will be featured on our new platform, which launches in the week of 10 March: Not.invisible.org. We will continuously update the platform with videos, blog posts, photography, and artworks sent to us by the autism community.
Join the campaign
We invite the autism community to share their stories in any format they prefer.
We also encourage policy-makers at the European, national, regional and local level to pledge support, and everyone to support the campaign by sharing the stories.