Our guest this week is the wonderful Author and Autism advocate Emily Katy. Emily’s book, Girl Unmasked: How Uncovering My Autism Saved My Life, is a powerful memoir where she shares her personal experiences with autism and mental health.In this chat Emily highlights the challenges she faced in childhood and adulthood, emphasising the importance of understanding and acceptance. We discuss the need for more resources and support for individuals with autism and mental health conditions. We also discuss the challenges of fitting in and masking autistic traits, and the misunderstanding of empathy in autistic individuals.  We learn the importance of recognising and understanding autistic traits in children, and how much better it would be if we could recognise Autism in people before they reach crisis point. We chat about how autistic people have unique needs and experiences that should be acknowledged and respected.  In her book Emily has a list of Autism Myths, and Emily debunks a few of these for us, such as Autism is a condition that mainly affects boys. We loved this conversation with the incredible Emily Katy (and loved the book too), an essential listen for everyone.Emily Katy:Book: Girl Unmasked. How Uncovering Autism Saved My Life. By Emily Katy. Published by Hachette UKW: www.authenticallyemily.ukI: @itsemilykaty In the Book Collective we continue reading, Unwell Women by Elinor Cleghorn, this week we read Chapters, 7 & 8, once again we learn about the appalling treatment of women and why male physicians thought it was a good idea to remove women’s ovaries.You can join in with our Book Club, send us a DM or voice note with your thoughts on the book. We catch up on your comments and you can find out what we’ve been up to this week. It’s another episode brimming with chat and all the usual sweary shenanigans! So, settle in for this hour(ish) podcast full of meaningful chat. If you’ve enjoyed our Podcast you may like to consider buying us a Ko-Fi at https://ko-fi.com/womenkindcollectivepodcastHere you can find updates, photos and some inclusive content we won’t post anywhere else and your donation will help us ensure we continue to bring you great quality of content and sound.Our campaign for a Menopause Clinic in Devon is moving closer but we still need signatures on our petition: https://www.change.org/p/wheresmyclinicOr to send your testimonials please email us: menopauseclinicdc@gmail.comAnd finally, if you would like the templates to send to your MP or CCG please visit our website: https://menopauseclinicfordevon.co.ukYou can watch the full unedited interview on our Womenkind Collective YouTube channel.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.