Neurodiversity, Autism and Recovery from Sexual Violence

“I’m so excited that this book exists. It should be in every bookshelf of every Rape Crisis and Women’s Aid centre, and I’d recommend it to university support staff, too, along with counsellors, therapists and anyone else supporting neurodivergent survivors. It brings together a compassionate understanding of autistic experience with a truly sensitive approach to recovery from sexual violence, alongside extremely practical, structured yet flexible guidance for any support worker. There are so many useful ideas, and they’re underpinned by lived experience alongside expertise in what someone neurodivergent might need from a support worker. I recommend the explanation of disempowering nature of medical model of disability which, in my experience, is knowledge that some support workers lack. This is knowledge that will enable person-centred support. I also enjoyed the talking points and ideas for using creativity. The themes of the book are all important areas of focus for recovery, starting with identity and the importance of environment and exploring physical well-being, sleep, emotions, routines and relationships. I can’t recommend it highly enough.” –Sara McHaffie, feminist activist“This inspiring and accessible book will help professionals - including those without previous experience with this client group - attend to the specific needs of autistic people as they try to make sense of their experiences of sexual violence.” –Dr Anna Stenning, Wellcome Research Fellow, University of Leeds“We can best understand the impact of something from people with lived experience, and this book provides that understanding. The book is information rich and extremely useful. It will lead anyone to a better understanding of the needs of autistic people who have been subjected to sexual violence and abuse. In turn, this better understanding will then equip any reader with the ability to encourage, support and enable survivors to move more quickly to a place where they can thrive after trauma and live a future filled with hope and confidence. Well done Dr Susy Ridout and thank you for making this knowledge accessible to all.” –Lisa Thompson, Chief Executive Officer - Rape and Sexual Violence Project (West Midlands)

Dr. Susy Ridout is an author, mentor, associate lecturer, and independent researcher working in the field of autism, neurodiversity, and sexual violence. As a neurodivergent victim-survivor of sexual violence, she has combined this insider experience with the knowledge and skills she has developed over a decade of mentoring in HE institutions to produce the material presented in this book.

Her doctoral study focused on ways to bring the autistic voice to the fore in research, services, and resources impacting on them, and Susy has turned this to her advantage to make sense of her experience of rape. This has resulted in presentations at conferences in the UK and abroad, where she has voiced her experiences so that practitioners and all those working to support victim-survivors are clear as to our agenda and the dangers of imposing their own.

Susy continues authoring and mentoring and has added to this work portfolio that of Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University (neurodiversity) and bespoke training around the country. These are informed by her main fields of interest, which are neurodivergence, disability, intersectionality, and sexual violence.