Autistic Women and Girls

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:24): Thank you, Madam Acting President, for the opportunity to speak on International Women's Day. One of the themes for International Women's Day this year is 'Embrace equity'. That theme has been chosen to highlight the difference between equity and equality, which are terms that are often used interchangeably. While equality means that everyone has access to the same resources and opportunities, equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and so should be provided the specific resources they need to be equal.

While International Women's Day is all about raising awareness for women's equality, we need to acknowledge women's diversity when we are striving for equality. Not all women come from an equal starting place, and women in marginalised communities are particularly affected by inequality. Women who are culturally diverse, LGBTQIA+ women, women who are economically disadvantaged and women with disability face hurdles that often other women do not.

This is the case for women and girls in the autistic and autism community. Since taking on the role of Assistant Minister for Autism, I have met with many autistic girls and women who have shared with me the ways in which they have often faced additional barriers and challenges in relation to their experiences with autism. Rates of autism often show that boys are on average four times more likely to have autism than girls; however, many have now come to realise that this number may be wildly inaccurate.

There is growing research that shows that autism presents differently in girls and therefore is often unrecognised and undiagnosed. Girls with autism are often better at camouflaging their sensory needs and reactions in order to fit in. I have heard time and time again from autistic women and girls and their parents how difficult it has been to get a diagnosis. For example, autistic girls will often receive a mental health diagnosis instead of an autism diagnosis, leading many autistic girls not to receive an autism diagnosis until well into their adulthood.

This late diagnosis is critical to people understanding who they are and should have been given to them earlier in life. Many autistic women have shared with me the frustrations they feel at having missed out on an earlier diagnosis and how they feel their whole lives could have been shaped differently had they just known and had access to support services earlier in life. For Laura, an earlier diagnosis might have meant she was able to finish school instead of dropping out in year 10. For Shekinah, having an earlier autism diagnosis could have better addressed her sensory needs instead of them being characterised as general anxiety disorder.

This International Women's Day, I would like to recognise how girls and women often face additional barriers accessing health services. The underdiagnosis of autism in girls and women is just one such example. I am so proud to be the nation's first Assistant Minister for Autism—and possibly, as my girls like to say, the first in the galaxy—and to have the responsibility of ensuring that autistic and autism communities are represented.

As part of our commitment to this, the Malinauskas state government is developing a range of initiatives to support autistic girls, including $28.8 million over four years to fund access to an Autism Inclusion Teacher in every public primary school from the beginning of term 1, which started in this term in week 1. I was proud to join many of the Autism Inclusion Teachers today at the Convention Centre for some of their training. We are also investing $50 million to fund speech pathologists, occupational therapists, psychologists and counsellors in the public school system. We are developing a state autism inclusion strategy that operates to support our community and will be part of developing an autism charter.

We are also establishing another nation first, an Office for Autism, which will be staffed by autistic people and based in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet, placing inclusion at the heart and centre of government. The Office for Autism will be tasked with supporting the implementation of the autism strategy and charter, which will not only help build knowledge about autism in general but knowledge about how autism often presents differently in girls and women, making real, lasting cultural change in our community for autistic women and girls for the future.

On this International Women's Day I am excited to continue to work with the autistic and autism community as the autism strategy and charter are developed and implemented in our schools and government agencies, creating a more equitable society for autistic women and girls.