YES Forum - Empowering young people - NeuroDiversity from a Female Perspective

The background

The NeuroDiversity from a Female Perspective projectseeks toclose knowledge gaps by incorporating expert knowledge and creating an inclusive environment for professionals and young people. There is a significant lack of knowledge about how autism and ADHD affect different genders, with girls often being diagnosed late or less frequently. This knowledge gap prevents appropriate support.

Why are we focussing on females?

The background to this is that the diagnostic procedures are outdated, on the one hand, and that very little is known about gender-specific differences, on the other hand, when it comes to ADS and Autism.

While there is still talk of fidgets, there is too little knowledge about how we can work appropriately with girls who have ADS or autism, both in youth work and in the context of school social work and, of course, other youth work offers.

Current challenges

Gender is adding another layer and makes it more specific.
Little knowledge about gender-specific differences in neurodivergent (young) people.
Diagnostics are male-dominated.
Girls* and young women* are diagnosed late, incorrectly or not at all.
No/little consideration of gender-specific differences in everyday life or rapid relegation to a specific track, especially at school.
There is a lack of suitable services for these young people from professionals.
There is a lack of knowledge about how neurodivergent colleagues can be integrated into teams and their needs for a good working environment.

The activities

The project will provide training activities for professionals to improve their understanding of neurodiversity, adopt a gender- sensitive approach and ensure that all people, especially neurodiverse young people, receive the support they need.

Starting with an intensive knowledge exchange on gender-sensitive working, autism and ADHD, complemented by external opinions from business and academia, this will be followed by two training activities with neurodiverse and non-neurodiverse people.

Project timeline

The results

As a result of the project, various checklists will be produced with methods and tips for integrating young neurodivergent women and diverse young people into youth work.

Furthermore, explanatory videos will be created for organisations to integrate neurodivergent colleagues better. Finally, young people will develop podcasts and/or video statements. This will be a participatory decision of the advisory board and other neurodiverse young people during a joint training event.

Kick-off Meeting Dresden, 17 – 18 December 2024

The kick-off meeting for the new 'NeuroDiversity from a Female Perspective' project, hosted by IB, took place in Dresden, Germany, on December 17 and 18, 2024.

The common starting point was the exploration of the initial situation from the point of view of pedagogical practice and the state of diagnostics of ADS/Autism from the view of a gender perspective.

The challenges go beyond outdated diagnostic procedures to include a lack of understanding about gender-specific differences in neurodivergent girls* and young women*. Male-oriented diagnostics often lead to delayed or missed diagnoses, and there is little knowledge about how to effectively support these individuals in youth work, school social work, and related fields. Gender differences are often overlooked, resulting in inadequate support or unsuitable pathways. Furthermore, youth work organisations struggle to integrate neurodivergent colleagues due to limited awareness of how to create inclusive working environments. Addressing these issues requires capacity building and tailored approaches for both young people and professionals.

An intensive two-day thematic discussion took place, focusing on the five work packages and their various stages. In addition to setting the dates for 2025, the partners exchanged their expertise and identified key "pitfalls" that need to be considered.

The event concluded with a presentation followed by a discussion led by a young woman who shared her personal and professional experiences living with a neurodivergent diagnosis. Her deeply moving insights gave the entire project consortium valuable inspiration for the joint work over the next three years.

The first project milestones for 2025 include establishing an advisory board composed of young neurodivergent girls*/women*, who will serve as critical friends to support the entire project. Additionally, a desk research initiative will be launched to identify good practices, alongside the implementation of Learning Lab 1—four half-day online sessions featuring various inputs.