Melissa Simmonds, the Adult Autism Project Coordinator and Sheffield Autism Partnership Network Coordinator at Voluntary Action Sheffield was invited to be one of six people to take part in the National Autistic Society’s Now I Know campaign to highlight the experiences of Autistic women and non-binary people.
Melissa was diagnosed at the age of 35. In her full interview Melissa describes her love of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She also explains the difficulties of growing up undiagnosed, the joy of her diagnosis and being visible as a Black autistic woman.
Melissa says:
“Please share this campaign with anyone you feel would benefit from it.It’s really important that more people understand autism in women because we’re out there. We are autistic and a lot of us just aren’t diagnosed. I think the more we understand autism – the more we understand how it presents in women, about the adjustments that need to go into society for people who are autistic, to help them to be able to cope in this world – the better our society will be.”
Melissa’s interview can be found here along with photographs and YouTube film.
