Christine McGuinness's new documentary Unmasking My Autism has been praised by viewers for shedding light on the challenges facing women with autism and drawing attention to the way many young girls "mask" having the disorder. The documentary, which aired on BBC One on Wednesday, March 15, explored the untold stories of several women with autism and described how they'd often been misdiagnosed, felt misunderstood by society and medical professionals, and had faced a wide range of challenges which affected their lives pre-diagnosis - and continue to affect them now.
During the documentary, Christine opened up about her own diagnosis, which came in 2021 when she was 33, and met several women who had faced similar feelings and experiences to her growing up, and in more recent times. Viewers heard many of the women had struggled to receive an accurate diagnosis for their conditions and, when they finally did, they felt it was a "lightbulb moment" and things in their life suddenly made sense.
Viewers have particularly praised Christine, now 34, for "laying bare" her autism journey - and have thanked her for "shining a light on the daily struggles and challenges that autistic people face".
Perhaps one of the most striking moments in the documentary was when Christine spoke with 24-year-old Leanne, who told the model and media personality that receiving her diagnosis some years before had "saved" her life.
For her whole life, Leanne's autism had been misdiagnosed and misunderstood and, as Christine told the camera, "this failure to spot the signs of Leanne's autism has resulted in serious mental health issues and multiple attempts at taking her own life".
Leanne explained: "I'm 24, I struggled with my mental health from when I was about 13. And I presented with lots of anxiety and panic attacks and, I wouldn't say 'meltdowns', but I call them little explosions. And I think because my hearing is probably one of the things that affects me the most, I used to be like 'am I mad?', 'am I broken?', 'what's wrong with me?'. My meltdowns used to be quite harmful towards myself and that's how I managed it."
Leanne's first diagnosis during her teenage years was 'social anxiety', but at another point of her life she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She was then treated with different medications and therapies "none of which were really effective" - all during her school years. The 24-year-old went on to explain how she had been "sectioned" at just 18 for several months and diagnosed with a personality disorder. It was only when she was hospitalised from the medication she had been put on that she and her mother begged for her consultant to look into an ASD [Autism Spectrum Disorder] diagnosis - which took 18 months, but finally came.
"Anything that I used to do to manage or cope, which wasn't helpful, I've not done for three, three and a half years," Leanne told Christine. "[My diagnosis] really has saved my life".
Amazingly, since her diagnosis, Leanne has vowed to become a spokesperson for people who "haven't found their voice" or have got "lost in the system".
Loneliness, an eating disorder and awful sexual abuse: Christine's difficult childhood
The NHS describes autism as something that causes someone's brain to "work in a different way from other people" while the National Autistic Society defines it as a "lifelong developmental disability" which affects how people "communicate and interact with the world".
In the documentary, Christine meets Fi, a girl who has autism and has been living with anorexia for a decade. Fi has been hospitalised numerous occasions, she explained, but it wasn't until 2020 that doctors considered that her eating behaviours may be related to autism.
Fi explained her illness started when she was around 14 years old and and said how she "didn't understand the world".
"I didn't understand what was going on," she said. "I felt like I got everything wrong and that is how I felt. I just felt wrong. I wasn't ok. I was struggling with my mental health and I started having panic attacks."
She recalled how she'd go to school and collapse and that she went from "health to really, really unwell" in the space of just two months - but said her later diagnosis of autism helped her understand the world around her and why she reacted to certain situations in specific ways.
Reflecting on her own childhood and eating behaviours, Christine opened up about the challenges she'd experienced and how they shaped the woman she is today. "My sister and brother played a lot together, I suppose I was just more of a loner," she said. "The thought of going into school every day was just horrific. It was just the worst place for me to go. When I had physically outbursts, that was when I just couldn't control it.
"I remember throwing chairs in the classroom, I remember pushing tables over. I remember screaming and shouting."
Christine added that she has struggled for years with eating and said her relationship with food is very sensory and so she struggles with texture and smell - preferring to stick to eating foods that are "dry and beige".
"The canteen in high school was huge. It was loud and the queue would go all the way down the corridor and I only ever did that once and then I never ate at school every again from 11," she added.
"Age 11, I didn't eat. At all. I never had periods. I remember my mum asked me about it one day. This was like when I was 14/15, and I was like 'no, not at all', and so she took me to see a doctor. So that's when I was diagnosed with an eating disorder, I suppose."
Christine also revealed how she dropped out of school at 14 after finding difficulty in lessons when her autistic traits were misunderstood as her "just being naughty". After leaving school, she entered into beauty pageants and won Miss Merseyside at the age of 13, Miss Commonwealth for England at age 15, Miss Cheshire at age 16 and Miss Liverpool at age 17 - but whilst she's carved out a glamorous and successful career, she said her goals "was never to be somebody known" instead, "it was to be a mum."
Another pinnacle and heart-breaking moment in the programme was when Christine bravely opened up about the sexual abuse she experienced as a young girl. Choking back tears, she explained she was first abused when she was just nine and was sadly raped as a teenager - years before she met her future husband Paddy.
Speaking with Dr Emma Colvert, Dr Victoria Milner and neurodevelopmental specialist Hannah Hayward on the topic of relationship and friendships, she was told: "Sadly, one of the common things that keeps coming up is a history of domestic and sexual violence in a lot of the relationships. I'd say 9 out of 10 women I work with, that is their history. That's not okay. And that's not a coincidence either. It's a regular occurence that they're abused in their relationships and they don't know how they got there."
In response to this, Christine said, emotionally: "I experienced that. It was a long long time ago. And I didn't speak up. And I wonder if I'd never said it because I was autistic, because... [I thought] was it me? Is it my fault? How did I find myself [in that situation]? All of those questions. But yeah, it's something I experienced when I was a teenager."
She added: "The abuse I suffered started when I was only nine years old and I wonder how many things in life could have been avoided if I had an earlier diagnosis and more support at school."
Watching this, viewers soon took to Twitter in support of Christine and the women who she spoke to and praised them for being brave and shining a light on such an important issue.
One user took to twitter to say: "Watching the @BBCOne #ChristineMcGuinness documentary on #Autism. The affects it’s had on this young girl’s mental health is so upsetting."
Another, @CarolineNewns, said: "You can see #ChristineMcGuinness mentally processing EVERY word in her interviews with contributors. This is a quality documentary on such an important issue. Very moving."
The I Am Autistic Society Greater Manchester Area Twitter page added: "15mins - WOW! #ChristineMcGuinness is very impressive and brave. Thank you for shining a light on the daily struggles and challenges that autistic people face. #autism #Neurodiversity #autismawareness #NeurodiversityCelebrationWeek2023" alongside Twitter user Steve Russell comment: "5mins into #ChristineMcGuinness - WOW!! The courage to unmask and offer a first hand insight into some of the struggles & challenges she faces is inspiring. Learning so much #autism #Neurodiversity."
'Women with autism are vulnerable in friendships and relationships'
Unmasking My Autism also sheds light on the challenges women with autism experience in friendships and romantic relationships - with many women with autism often struggling to fully understand the concept of consent.
"Sadly, one of the common things that keeps coming up is a history of domestic and sexual violence in a lot of the relationships. I'd say 9 out of 10 women I work with, that is their history," one autism expert said. "That's not okay. And that's not a coincidence either. It's a regular occurrence that they're abused in their relationships and they don't know how they got there."
The expert continued: "I talk to a few women about consent. The idea of consent when it came to reading signals and reading cues. And suddenly finding themselves in a situation they didn't know they had consented to be in but they were in it. But then that aspect of wanting to be liked meant they didn't get out of it. They could be years into this situation. It is devastating."
Hearing this, Christine responded: "I experienced that. It was a long long time ago. And I didn't speak up. And I wonder if I'd never said it because I was autistic, because... [I thought] was it me? Would not a typical woman have said something? Is it my fault? How did I find myself [in that situation]? All of those questions. But yeah, it's something I experienced when I was a teenager."
"And then when I met my husband, that was a time where I felt very safe," she added. "And I wonder if that's why I stayed in that relationship for 15 years. We're separated now, I stayed with him for 15 years. I know being a single woman, a single parent is an extremely vulnerable place to be and it petrifies me. But that's life."
In the VT, Chrstine said: "My relationships before I met Patrick [Paddy] were not very good. I'd say they were all pretty bad experiences." Tearing up, she added: "I don't know how to say it. And before Patrick, I had been sexually abused. I was raped. I used to pray and it's sad now when I think about it. I'd pray every night that I wouldn't wake up in the morning. I just didn't want to live. Just cause it was so awful. It was just awful."
Christine McGuinness: Unmasking My Autism is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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