World Autism Month

April is the time of year that people around the world are encouraged to start a conversation about autism. This is a time to celebrate autistic people and address some of the specific challenges they face. Read more about why April is Autism Awareness Month and what the College is doing to address the needs of autistic people below.

Why is April autism awareness month?

More than 1% of people are autistic, across all age groups. Autistic people have many talents and abilities, and April is the time to celebrate the uniqueness and diversity of autistic people.

April is also a time to be more aware of the needs of autistic people and some of the specific challenges that they face. Across the world, people chose April as the time to start a conversation about autism.

What are we talking about in the College of Psychiatrists of Ireland?

We have a very active Autism Special Interest Group in the College of Psychiatrists. We are keen this April to talk about mental health and autism. Autistic people may experience more mental health challenges than neurotypical people. Our members are concerned to highlight these needs to psychiatrists, other mental health professionals and the general public. Our conversation about autism is focused on how we can be better at recognising and managing mental health difficulties in autistic people.

During the month of April we will post and tweet about our activities in relation to autism. Some of our members have written information pieces about autism and mental health, autism and females and how autism is represented in literature. Please read our blogs and retweet and join in the conversation.

The charity AsIAm are running a campaign this April called ‘Say yes to autism acceptance’. We want to support their campaign by encouraging mental health professionals to follow the 10 ways they have highlighted that we can help. You can find out more about their campaign at asiam.ie/say-yes.