Rebecca McCash said lived experience is still treated as an optional extra

Rebecca McCash told the autistic entrepreneurs showcase at Think Autism Melbourne on 30 May 2026 that the biggest barrier autistic founders continue to face is that “lived experience is still treated as an optional add-on” and not as genuine expertise. Because of that, McCash said, many spaces believe autistic people should simply be grateful to have been invited, when they should be paid and valued for expertise that is both lived and professional.

McCash founded FutureTech, a social enterprise that connects neurodivergent children and young people with neurodivergent mentors who have skills in the areas the young people are interested in, such as science, technology, engineering and the arts. In the pitch McCash called it an attempt at a systems solution. Children and young people, McCash said, were coming out of school traumatised and feeling they could not do anything, in places where they should have been excited, curious and safe, and it did not have to be that way. FutureTech had supported more than 150 young people, McCash said, and had hired 20 neurodivergent adults, a point of real pride. It also works with schools, communities and workplaces to share what it has learned. It was not only autistic people’s responsibility to show up in the world, McCash said; it was everyone’s responsibility to do better by autistic people and for them.