Megan Prescott is best known for starring as Katie Finch in the British series Skins in Seasons 3 and 4. Thirteen years after the show ended, the star is opening up about being diagnosed with autism.
“In December 2021 I was diagnosed as autistic. Since then I’ve been slowly getting comfortable with explaining this to people I know, but I’ve been nervous to say anything on here about it because of how badly misunderstood autism in women is by most people,” she wrote on Instagram. “There are still members of my family that I haven’t told about my diagnosis because I know the response will be pretty upsetting.”
Prescott says that women diagnosed with ADHD are “very misunderstood.”
“When I’ve told people I am autistic, the response I’ve got most often is something along the lines of ‘Well everyone’s on the spectrum a bit’ – which, although it might be well-intentioned, is a pretty shit response to someone telling you they’re autistic,” she added. “Firstly, that response sounds like you’re trying to console the autistic person by saying ‘don’t feel bad, we’re all a bit like that’ which implies that not only is autism a bad thing, but it also completely invalidates the struggles that that autistic person may have experienced throughout their life.”
Prescott feels that some people downplay her diagnosis as if it’s “not a big deal because it’s something everyone experiences and you’re just not as good at dealing with it.” The former Skins star makes the argument that giving little importance to the diagnosis is “why rates of anxiety and depression in autistic people are so huge.”
She continued, “Autism also isn’t a ‘superpower.’ We live in a society that is constructed from the ground up for people with neurotypical brains. I do believe that autism COULD be a ‘gift’ IF the world we lived in was made accessible to neurodiverse people. However, almost all of the structures, systems and social ‘rules’ that we live by have been created by and for neurotypical people and don’t allow for the vast differences in how neurodiverse minds work.”
Prescott wishes there were “more conversations about autism in women” as she explains that most “of the diagnostic criteria involved in autism assessment is based on research done exclusively on men.”
“In true me style, I will of course be talking about this a LOT; partly because I am incredibly self-involved, but also because there is such a lack of information and support out there for autistic women and I would like to at least add my two cents worth,” she ends.
