Tune in to hear Hannah Belcher, PhD, Autistic researcher, speaker, and author, discuss the often late and missed diagnosis of autistic females.

About the speaker:

Dr. Hannah Belcher was diagnosed with ‘Asperger’s Syndrome’ in 2012, at the age of 23. After suffering from mental health problems, including depression, anxiety, and severe agoraphobia, which resulted in her dropping out of school before her GCSEs, her autism was finally identified by an Art Therapist. Since then, Hannah has spent many years conducting research on the often late and missed diagnosis of autistic females, including the use of camouflaging strategies and the mental health repercussions. She started writing the blog ‘Aspertypical’ immediately upon receiving her diagnosis. The blog posts chronicled her journey to better understand and connect with her diagnosis and other autistic people. These have since been archived but can still be viewed on Hannah’s main blog pages.

Hannah has lectured in Psychology and mental health since 2016, for both the Open University and Anglia Ruskin University. After submitting her thesis in March of this year, Hannah has gone on to work for Mind, a leading mental health charity in the UK, and is currently a researcher at King’s College London. Her book, Taking off the Mask, about how autistic people can reduce their camouflaging behaviors and improve their wellbeing, is being published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in 2022.

Hannah has been invited to give talks across the UK on her own experiences of autism and her research, including the British Science Festival (2019) and the National Autism Society’s’ ‘Women and Girls’ conference (2019). She has been interviewed both nationally and globally, featuring on the BBC and ABC, as well as in The Guardian and the New Scientist.

REGISTER:  https://www.autism.org/gender-differences-in-diagnoses/