Stepping into Who I Fully Am: A Creative Exploration of Autistic Menopause

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. three authors of this publication are identified as autistic in the project.

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Matthews, R., Jenkins, C. A., Janse van Rensburg, M. G., Brady, M. J., Moseley, R. L., & Gamble-Turner, J. (2025). Stepping into Who I Fully Am: A Creative Exploration of Autistic Menopause. International Journal of Disability and Social Justice, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.13169/intljofdissocjus.5.1.0004

Publication date: 1 Jan 2025 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
6
Publication authors identified as autistic
3 / 6 (50.0%)
  1. Rose Matthews *
  2. Christine A. Jenkins *
  3. Margaret G. Janse van Rensburg
  1. Miranda J. Brady
  2. Rachel L. Moseley *
  3. Julie Gamble-Turner

Abstract

Research suggests that perimenopause can compound existing struggles for some Autistic people, with potentially catastrophic consequences. Barriers to self-expression due to communication differences are also well-documented. Acknowledging this, our neurodiverse research team invited creative submissions themed around Autistic experiences of menopause, receiving works from six Autistic participants including paintings, poetry, and graphic works. Engaging with the six creative submissions, Autistic Community Researchers on our team produced reflexive, polytextual response works. Creative exploration of Autistic menopause encouraged emotional catharsis, self-understanding, and activism/artivism. Autistic Community Researchers noted transcendent, almost “magical” dimensions of connecting with other Autistic people’s lived experiences. Our creative emancipatory approach enabled Autistic, multimedia responses which traditional research methods would not have elicited. To our knowledge, no other studies to date have used arts-based research to explore Autistic people’s experiences of menopause and inclusive research practices.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 16:12.

Cited references
77
With a DOI
56
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
21
19 / 77 (24.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
3 / 77 (3.9%)
References with detected author names
76 / 77 (98.7%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
2
Without a stable identifier
20
References with raw author names still to review
0
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
251
From DOI or external metadata
251
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
0
150 / 251 (59.8%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 101 / 251 (40.2%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
50 / 251 (19.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 50 / 150 (33.3%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 39 / 217 (18.0%).
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