Recorded and originally aired: 9th of April 2022, 19:00 London BST; 11:00 PST:
*Autistic situational mutism: Ben & Libby educate Aucademy*

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In this session, Ben Usher-Barrass (he/him) and Libby Jenner-Holmes educate Aucademy about their experiences as young Autistic people who experience situational mutism.

Guest speaker details:
Ben (he/him) is 22, and discovered he was Autistic when he was diagnosed late in 2017, when he was age 17 (a month before he turned 18). Ben's dedicated interests are gaming and the Marvel cinematic universe. Ben discovered he was Autistic because a school counsellor thought he might be and asked CAMHS to do an assessment. Ben would say his challenges are differences in communication, not being able to express himself fully and then the sensitivity from RSD [rejection sensitivity dysphoria] that follows when he does try to express himself and be himself. But Ben's strengths are having hyper empathy and being able to understand people on a unique level, as well as his sensitivities being strengths with the right people as it shows that he cares. [ Ссылка ]

Libby is a 21-year-old student and discovered they were Autistic when they were 16. Libby enjoys learning about everything and anything, but their main interests include history (particularly disability history and historiography), the Autistic experience, stories (in any form or genre), unsolved mysteries, and generally human experience (cultures, languages, psychology, ethics, morality etc.). Libby worked out they were Autistic because there were struggling with anxiety and seeing counsellors, and none of that really worked. Libby had known about autism since they were five, but it was always dismissed as being down to PTSD, and them being overly empathetic and “emotionally intelligent”. Libby did online tests for autism, and read Autistic blogs and identified with what they wrote about. They were diagnosed when they were 20 in March 2021.

**Please note we are not clinicians or diagnosticians**

Dr Chloe Farahar (she/they) - Autistic academic (prejudice-reduction; Autistic wellbeing; neurodiversity), educator, & self-advocate

Northern Autie/Si Hodgson (he/they) - Autistic educator, self-advocate, Aucademy Lead Facilitator, & mayo enthusiast

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