12/08/2026
A fantastic blog Corinne thank you.
One of the biggest things whilst waiting for my diagnosis was the voice in my head saying that I wasn't autistic enough to be autistic and what if the assessment concluded that I wasn't? Then what would I do?
I can be articulate, more when I'm writing than speaking to be honest.
I can write long posts on FB, send essays on WhatsApp and journal extensively.
But in social situations it takes work and I can become blank and tongue tied.
I've worked out that 1-1 is good, 4 people ok and 6, takes work.
I don't retain statistics and facts very well so I don't present with lots of knowledge on specific things/interests but I do have special interests that come and go.
This person saying these things is why I felt like a bit of a fraud when having my assessment.
Now that I have the diagnosis, it has validated so much for me and my brain is quieter because I don't question why I'm different.
So, basically Uta Frith, you can just "Do one!"
How can anyone possibly be an expert on anyone else's lived experience.
Shame on her. Silly person. 😕
And that’s how we take another step backwards !🙄😬
Uta Frith is one of the most influential autism researchers of the past several decades. She is a developmental psychologist and neuroscientist who has spent much of her career studying autism and has played a significant role in shaping how autism has been understood within psychology and neuroscience.
Which is precisely why I find her latest comments so concerning.
In a recent interview with The Times, the journalist mentioned Chris Packham — the naturalist, wildlife presenter and broadcaster who was diagnosed in 2005 with what was then called Asperger’s syndrome.
Frith interrupted:
“He cannot be autistic in my opinion.”
She went on to describe it as “absolutely absurd” that somebody who communicates as brilliantly as Packham could be Autistic, calling his ability to communicate a “blatant contra-indication.”
And I genuinely struggle to know where to begin with this.
Because what message does this send?
That Autistic people cannot be articulate?
That we cannot be excellent communicators?
That we cannot become skilled public speakers?
That if an Autistic person becomes too good at communicating, they have somehow disproved their own autism?
This is exactly the sort of thinking that has left generations of Autistic people unidentified.
Being able to communicate brilliantly does not tell you what that communication costs someone.
It doesn't tell you how much conscious processing is happening underneath.
It doesn't tell you whether they have rehearsed what they are going to say.
It doesn't tell you how exhausting certain social interactions may be.
It doesn't tell you how much sensory information they are processing at the same time.
It doesn't tell you how much recovery they might need afterwards.
And it certainly doesn't tell you what happens when the cameras are switched off and they are back in the safety of their own home.
This is the problem with judging autism by what somebody looks like from the outside.
We see the finished performance.
We don't necessarily see the work required to produce it.
And the irony of making this claim about Chris Packham is extraordinary.
Because Chris has spent YEARS talking openly about his Autistic experience.
In his 2017 documentary Chris Packham: Asperger’s and Me, he gave people an insight into his own Autistic world.
More recently, through Inside Our Autistic Minds, he has helped other Autistic people communicate experiences that are so often invisible to the outside world.
That is the point.
Autism doesn't mean an inability to communicate.
And communication differences do not always mean an inability to speak eloquently.
Some Autistic people don't use spoken language.
Some use AAC.
Some speak intermittently.
Some struggle enormously to express themselves.
And some are exceptionally articulate.
Some can give an incredible presentation to hundreds of people but struggle with an unexpected conversation in the supermarket.
Some can talk confidently about their specialist subject for an hour and then have absolutely no idea what to say during small talk.
Some of us have also spent decades consciously learning things that other people may do far more instinctively — studying conversations, rehearsing responses, watching other people, learning when we're expected to make eye contact, laugh, ask a question or stop talking.
But being articulate isn't, in itself, masking.
An Autistic person can simply be a brilliant communicator.
Masking or camouflaging is what can happen when we consciously or unconsciously hide, suppress or compensate for our Autistic traits in order to meet the expectations of the people around us.
And that's the part you cannot necessarily see.
You can see someone communicating brilliantly.
You cannot see how much conscious processing it requires.
You cannot see whether they are suppressing discomfort or monitoring every part of their behaviour.
You cannot see the exhaustion afterwards.
And you cannot possibly determine someone's neurology simply by watching how successfully they communicate in one particular setting.
Communication ability and autism are not opposites.
As an Autistic counsellor who has spent years working solely with Autistic and ADHD clients, this is something I see again and again.
People whose competence becomes evidence against their struggles.
People who are told:
"But you make eye contact."
"But you're married."
"But you have friends."
"But you have a successful career."
"But you're so articulate."
As though Autistic people are only allowed to be Autistic while we remain visibly struggling.
And perhaps that is what concerns me most about comments like these.
Because we have spent YEARS trying to move away from stereotypes about what an Autistic person is supposed to look and sound like.
An Autistic person's abilities do not cancel out their disability.
And someone's ability to communicate beautifully tells you absolutely nothing about the effort that may — or may not — be going on underneath.
That is exactly what Chris Packham and so many other Autistic people have been trying to highlight for years:
You cannot understand someone's internal experience simply by looking at their external presentation.
Chris Packham hasn't spent years talking about his Autistic experience despite being articulate.
His ability to articulate that experience has helped countless people understand something they previously couldn't see.
And dismissing that experience because he communicates "too brilliantly"?
That doesn't move our understanding of autism forward.
It takes us another step backwards.
Photo of a woman looking directly at the camera with wide eyes, raised eyebrows and her lips pressed together, giving an expression of disbelief or “I don’t even know where to start.” She is wearing a dark top, with her hair pulled back, and is indoors with framed pictures and curtains visible in the background.
