Skins star Megan Prescott has opened up about being diagnosed with autism as an adult.
The 31-year-old, who is best known for playing Katie Fitch in the E4 television series, has revealed that she was diagnosed in 2021.
Opening up about her health on Autism Awareness Day on Sunday, the actress said she’s been nervous to speak publicly about her diagnosis and explained that she has not told certain family members because she thinks the “response will be too upsetting”.
Taking to Instagram, she wrote in a lengthy post: “In December 2021, I was diagnosed as autistic. Since then, I’ve been slowly getting comfortable with explaining this to people I know, but I’ve been nervous to say anything on here about it because of how badly misunderstood autism in women is by most people.”
She continued: “When I’ve told people I am autistic, the response I’ve got most often is something along the lines of ‘well everyone’s on the spectrum a bit’ — which, although it might be well-intentioned, is a pretty s**t response to someone telling you they’re autistic.
“Firstly, that response sounds like you’re trying to console the autistic person by saying ‘don’t feel bad, we’re all a bit like that’, which implies that not only is autism a bad thing, but it also completely invalidates the struggles that that autistic person may have experienced throughout their life.”
Prescott claimed that the downplaying of autism is why rates of “anxiety and depression in autistic people are so huge”.
The star, who has also appeared in the BBC drama series Holby City and Silent Witness, also told her social media followers that autism is not a “superpower”.
“We live in a society that is constructed from the ground up for people with neurotypical brains,” she added.
“I do believe that autism COULD be a ‘gift’ IF the world we lived in was made accessible to neurodiverse people.
“However, almost all of the structures, systems and social ‘rules’ that we live by have been created by and for neurotypical people and don’t allow for the vast differences in how neurodiverse minds work.”
Prescott concluded her post by saying she wished there were “more conversations about autism in women” as most “of the diagnostic criteria involved in autism assessment is based on research done exclusively on men.”
The topic surrounding the delayed diagnosis of women with autism was recently explored in Christine McGuinness’ BBC documentary Unmasking My Autism in which she explores her own diagnosis.
