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Argument, Think Autism Melbourne 2026
Autism or trauma is the wrong question, a Think Autism panel argued
In short
At Think Autism Melbourne, practitioners rejected the diagnostic habit of asking whether a client’s difficulties come from autism or from trauma, and raised what happens when a client’s language has no word for neurodiversity.
Read it instead, 4 minutesThe transcript
The story
There is a question that recurs in autism assessment, and one practitioner at Think Autism Melbourne said it still came up often. Particularly in the diagnostic process, the practitioner said, people are still asking “is it autism or trauma? Is it ADHD or trauma?” The practitioner’s own answer was that it can be both.
The exchange came near the end of the panel on neuroaffirming practice, when Dr Naomi Malone, who facilitated the panel, asked how trauma informed and culturally safe practice intersect with neurodiversity affirming care. The day had already included a panel on intersectionality, Malone noted, and the issue was always there in the room. The question was what gets missed when neurodiversity is considered in isolation.
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Sources the story draws on
- Post-traumatic stress disorder in autistic and non-autistic adults: The impact of appraisals on reactions to traumatic events (opens in a new tab), Autism 30(3), 605 to 625 (author accepted version, Oxford University Research Archive)
More from Think Autism Melbourne 2026
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