A Perth woman has opened up about her “daily mental battle” to be comfortable with her sexuality and wants to use her own experiences to help young people.
Emma Boyd has told of her struggle to come to terms with being gay at the age of 12 and spent years learning how to be comfortable in her own skin.
Now a practitioner at Perth Autism Support, the 25-year-old is using her own experiences to help the young people she works with, who are getting to grips both with their sexuality and autism.
As part of this, she and colleague Mór Fraser have launched a support group for LGBTQI young people with autism.
Emma said: “I struggled to come to terms with who I was, and it took a lot of mental strength to get to a place where I felt comfortable.
“I’m still figuring it out to this day.
“It’s a daily mental battle to become completely comfortable with where I am with my sexuality.”
Confused and anxious
She added: “I remember when I first came out and I started realising maybe I didn’t like boys and I was lucky I had friends to go to that I trusted.
“It was a really confusing and anxious time.
“It took me a few years to come out to my parents, but once I built that support network I felt relief.”
LGBTQI youth group
Whilst at work, Emma noticed a shift in the way young people she supports talk about LGBTQI issues in the autistic community, including expressing feelings of doubt within their gender identities and sexualities.
This is what inspired Emma and Mór to launch the LGBTQI youth group.
As Mór also struggled getting to grips with her non-binary identity and autism, the pair felt together they could help young people in similar situations understand they are not alone.
‘I finally had an answer’
Mór, 37, said: “My autism is a part of me, it comes along with what hid it for nearly all my life – depression, anxiety, panic disorder, dyspraxia.
“I also have sensory processing disorder, selective mutism, and Ehlers Danlos [rare inherited conditions that affect connective tissue].
“I was diagnosed at 29.
“Scary, unknown things that had made me feel like I was broken – I finally had an answer.
“Nothing is ‘wrong’ with me, I’m just me.”
They added: “I’ve spent ever since re-learning my self – getting to know me, learning how to be and manage my conditions and my health as much as possible.
“I’m still learning, and trying to be more kind and patient with me in the process.”
‘Life-changing’
The pair decided they wanted to create a group for LGBTQI youth at Perth Autism Support, so that they can have a safe space to be themselves, and discuss how their autism impacts their gender identity and sexuality.
Emma said: “There really isn’t a space like this in Perth for LGBTQI youth who also suffer from autism.
“I think because we have been through this, we can really understand what these guys are going through.
“This will be life-changing for them.”
Mór added: “A group like this would have been great when I was trying to figure everything out.
“I struggled a lot with anxiety during that period of my life.
“In my opinion, if something’s not there, then build it.
“That’s what we are doing, building a community where our young people have the freedom to be who they are.”
The first meeting is at Perth Autism Support’s New Row building at 6pm on Tuesday April 26.
