Summer Update: 2026
If you would like an easy-to-read version (with pictures), click here.
Hello everyone!
Here’s our summer 2026 update.
Ways to take part:
We have a survey about menopause open for people in the UK who have periods or have had a period in the last 11 years.
Soon we will have another survey out for Autistic people from the UK about periods. We’ll send an email to the mailing list when it’s ready.
The research itself:
We are now nearly halfway through our data collection for the study. We have conducted over 430 interviews with our participants and have started working on papers with their contributions.
Presentations:
Aimee was invited to speak to the Royal Colleague of Midwives conference about good maternity care for Autistic people.
Ami and Krysia presented posters at the INSAR conference in Prague.
Becky’s presentation “Menstruation and autism: a qualitative systematic review” is available to watch here.
Aimee talked to the Wellcome Trust (our funder) about doing inclusive research – you can watch it hehttps://youtu.be/FMSeJPyfhQI?si=oaoB2rEX7UUGkWYPre.
And short articles for The Conversation, including these:
How realistic is Mattel’s new autistic Barbie? Read here.
Autistic people seem to feel joy differently – here’s what it can tell us about neurodivergence. Read here.
What neurodivergent people really think about the words used to describe them. Read here.
Dopamine menus: can small pleasures help us get unstuck? Read here.
Do you lose your whole day to one appointment? ‘Waiting mode’ may be why. Read here.
Social Media:
Over the last year, we’ve been posting on Fridays with Autism-friendly information about reproductive health and our research. You can find these posts on Instagram, TikTok and both our private and public Facebook groups.
We also have our:
· Website: www.autismmenstruationtomenopause.com
· And YouTube channel: @AutismMenstruationToMenopause
Other successes:
Harriet has submitted a review of all of the research on Autism and puberty, a preprint of this paper is available here.
Aimee submitted a paper on what good “data sharing” (sharing information from a study with other researchers) might be in Autism research, you can read the preprint here.
Aimee wrote a book! The Autism friendly guide to pregnancy, birth and the fourth trimester.
Aimee spoke to the BBC for an article about Autistic people and smear tests, available here.
Two of our team, Aimee and Becky are supervisors for a PhD studentship funded by Cancer Research Wales. This research will be on Autistic people's experiences of cervical screening. Applications for this position are now closed.
One member of our team, Harriet, will be going on maternity leave soon. We’re hoping she, and her growing family, have a calm and peaceful time together. Kathryn Williams will be taking over from Harriet in the summer.
Coming up:
We’ll interview the same participants again and start looking at some of the data we’ve already collected.
We’ll be working on papers about managing periods and barriers to health care.
We’ll be sharing it all on our social media :)
Best wishes,
Aimee, Becky, Harriet, Krysia, Ami, Kat and the whole Autism Menstruation to Menopause team