The neurodiversity concept viewed through an autistic lens

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Vive la difference! Celebrating and supporting autistic psychiatrists with autistic doctors international

Aims We aim to raise awareness of the existence and value of autistic doctors in psychiatry and to also signpost psychiatrists who are or suspect they might be autistic towards peer support. Method Autism refers to a lifelong difference in how people communicate and interact with the world. These differences lead to strengths and challenges with individual profiles which include special interests, hyper-focus, and often sensory differences and anxiety. Autism has an estimated prevalence of 1-2%, which is likely an underestimate. It was noted that there was little in the way of advocacy for autistic doctors around the world. Anecdotal evidence also suggested possible issues of misunderstanding and stigmatisation of autistic doctors. As such, there was a need to tackle this to promote positive change. MD founded the group Autistic Doctors International (ADI) in 2019 to foster camaraderie, advocacy and support. ADI has flourished with 250+ members currently. In a recent member poll, 24 of 180 respondents identified themselves as psychiatrists – second only to general practice (n = 54). Several other consultant psychiatrists are known to self-identify as autistic but have not formally joined due to the fear of disclosure. The group has additionally supported multiple doctors to tackle prejudice and discrimination in the workplace / training environment. It has also brought together autistic doctors with academic interests and has generated multiple academic outputs in the form of publications, research grants and conference posters/papers regarding autism. Result Psychiatrists, and doctors in general, are a self-selecting group for many autistic strengths such as hyper-focus, curiosity, self-motivation, a desire to study social communication, attention to detail, pattern recognition, problem solving and empathy, which, contrary to prevailing stereotypes, can be marked in autism. The increasing numbers of doctors joining ADI supports the assumption that autistic individuals are safe and effective clinicians. It is worth noting that many members are not ‘doctors in difficulty’. Those who have been able to achieve suitable accommodations, often without realising why they were needed, have flourished. Such accommodations and outcomes are in line with the neurodiversity movement, which promotes a view of autism as difference, rather than pure disability or disorder. This aims to challenge stereotypes and the tragedy narrative surrounding autism. Conclusion Autism awareness is increasing amongst doctors but more open discussion is still needed in order to facilitate appropriate peer and workplace support. This is likely to improve mental wellbeing and resilience for autistic psychiatrists

Visual search in the real world:Color vision deficiency affects peripheral guidance, but leaves foveal verification largely unaffected

Background: People with color vision deficiencies report numerous limitations in daily life. However, they use basic color terms systematically and in a similar manner as people with people with normal color vision. We hypothesize that a possible explanation for this discrepancy between color perception and behavioral consequences might be found in the gaze behavior of people with color vision deficiency.Methods: A group of participants with color vision deficiencies and a control group performed several search tasks in a naturalistic setting on a lawn.Results: Search performance was similar in both groups in a color-unrelated search task as well as in a search for yellow targets. While searching for red targets, color vision deficient participants exhibited a strongly degraded performance. This was closely matched by the number of fixations on red objects shown by the two groups. Importantly, once they fixated a target, participants with color vision deficiencies exhibited only few identification errors. Conclusions: Participants with color vision deficiencies are not able to enhance their search for red targets on a (green) lawn by an efficient guiding mechanism. The data indicate that the impaired guiding is the main influence on search performance, while foveal identification (verification) largely unaffected

Autistic role modelling in medical education

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[Correspondence] Welcome signs of the road ahead for autistic doctors and patients

We wholeheartedly thank and congratulate the authors and the Royal College of Psychiatrists on this response to our editorial piece. Not only for autistic psychiatrists, but for all of our colleagues who are neurodivergent and those with other disabilities. We welcome the publication of the three vitally important priority areas for the disability section of the College Equality Action Plan. These priorities clearly and firmly signal a move to improve inclusion and support reasonable accommodations and are in line with the positions of the General Medical Council and Medical Schools Council. An accessible and inclusive College fosters retention of the existing workforce and supports ongoing recruitment – a priority of the inspiring Choose Psychiatry campaign. We have received messages of support and thanks from autistic and other neurodivergent doctors, who now feel that there is hope of being valued and supported with reasonable accommodations where needed and may now consider disclosing autism or other neurodivergence. The College is in a strong position to lead in this area and neurodivergent colleagues from other specialties hope that their Royal Colleges will also act. There have also been messages of congratulation and hope from those outside the medical profession who have seen our editorial with its clear message of common autistic strengths on offer alongside the request for reasonable support. They understand, like us, that the College response is a very significant and welcome change that ripples outwards in our approaches to autistic patients and into society. We are grateful to the College for actively listening and meeting with us and our neurodivergent colleagues, and we look forward to collaborating further to effect change as soon as possible. We continue to bring much to the profession and are proud to work alongside all of our colleagues in a full CIRCLE

A full CIRCLE: inclusion of autistic doctors in the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ values and equality action plan

Autistic psychiatrists bring strengths and values to the workforce and ask to be acknowledged and supported as part of the Royal College of Psychiatrists’ CIRCLE values and Equality Action Plan. Courage and collaboration are required to jointly learn and innovate, promoting well-being, resilience and excellence for autistic doctors