ABOUT

The purpose of “We Get To Be” 

To bring together lived experience, neuroscience, neurodiversity, endocrinology (hormones), stories, conversations, research, education, and observations together to help create new benchmarks, that new research can be created upon while we learn and question together.

Bringing together different ways to look at the same purpose.

  • To lower shame, lower stigmas, and the many misconceptions that have taken place over the last 100 years.
  • Highlight the significance of cultivating curiosity, embracing imagination, and fostering a questioning mindset.
  • To be seen, understood, recognized, believed.
  • Build new benchmarks for research and education.
  • Have a little fun along the way!
Nathan Azopardi, Founder of "We Get To Be"

Understanding the importance of why"We Get To Be" has been created:

 

  • The research being created since 2020 are in themselves now benchmarks for others to build from. For too long research has not included the voices/testimony of the individuals the research is based on.
  • Objective: Help change how we perceive, learn, educate, and comprehend Neurodiversity, Endocrinology, and Mental Health.
  • Outcome: Build education and understanding in both individual and group setting from school age to adults. While helping to reduce anxiety, burnout, masking, and potentially lowering rates of suicide and depression within these subjects. Helping to build both compassion and boundaries.
  • Scaling and Formatting: Scaling the project to reach a wider audience and creating accessible formats for different age groups, abilities, and disabilities.
  • Public Accessibility: Making the work as publicly available as possible to reach a larger audience.
 
By building Stories based on lived experience, research that is based on both neuroscience, endocrinology and lived experience, we can gain valuable insights through personal experiences and data analysis. These insights are currently lacking on a large scale. By openly sharing stories about various subjects like Autism, ADHD, OCD, PCOS, PTSD, Depression, Bipolar, Anxiety, Menopause, Perimenopause, and PMMD, we can learn from each other and improve our knowledge in these areas.
More can be understood via the About page on “We get To Be”
 
  • We have the opportunity to open up about important topics in a relatively short period.
  • Neurodiversity, endocrinology, and mental health affect a majority of people, yet we tend to treat them as minorities.
  • Understanding the barriers that prevent openness is crucial, including misconceptions and outdated beliefs within society.
  • Many individuals could be voices for themselves and others if given the chance.
  • Over ten years, I have encountered many incredible people who don’t disclose their diagnoses or conditions, which highlights a societal discrepancy.
 
In the future, we shouldn’t have to face these subjects alone as we grow up. Even a small amount of understanding and recognition can make a significant difference by potentially saving lives and providing more support from others and ourselves.
 
Currently, many individuals grow up feeling isolated, unsure of who they are, and carrying feelings of shame, fear, and nervousness about sharing their experiences. By openly discussing and sharing stories about these subjects, we can create a supportive environment where people can feel understood and find the help they need.
 
Doctors are opening up more about their own diagnoses and struggles, Psychotherapists are starting to share that many have misconceptions and outdated beliefs and are open to learning more.

Examples:

(2021) A blind spot in mental healthcare? Psychotherapists lack education and expertise for the support of adults on the autism spectrum
Silke Lipinskihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0778-79961, Katharina Boeglhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-9042-25031, Elisabeth S Blanke1,2, Ulrike Suenkelhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5348-39963, and Isabel Dziobek1,4,5,6

ABSTRACT:

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613211057973

Most adults on the autism spectrum have co-occurring mental health conditions, creating a high demand for mental health services – including psychotherapy – in autistic adults. However, autistic adults have difficulties accessing mental health services. The most-reported barriers to accessing treatment are therapists’ lack of knowledge and expertise surrounding autism, as well as unwillingness to treat autistic individuals. This study was conducted by a participatory autism research group and examined 498 adult-patient psychotherapists on knowledge about autism and self-perceived competency to diagnose and treat autistic patients without intellectual disability compared to patients with other diagnoses. Psychotherapists rated their education about autism in formal training, and competency in the diagnosis and treatment of patients with autism, lowest compared to patients with all other diagnoses surveyed in the study, including those with comparable prevalence rates. Many therapists had misconceptions and outdated beliefs about autism. Few had completed additional training on autism, but the majority were interested in receiving it. Greater knowledge about autism was positively linked to openness to accept autistic patients. The results point to an alarming gap in knowledge necessary for adequate mental health care for individuals with autism.

(Based on the research above, we can also see there are many bottlenecks when it comes to believed knowledge, from the people who took part in the research, it was shown that they also had a low understanding of ADHD, yet feel they had a stong understanding of ED, OCD, BPD and Depression. This in itself becomes a contradiction, Many of the parts they feel they have a strong understanding of plays a big part it what can occur in autism adults and ADHD’ers.)

The experiences of autistic doctors: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37533891/

Autism refers to a set of lifelong differences in how people communicate, interact, socialize, and behave (1, 2). Autistic people have individual strengths and challenges, which can include hyperfocus, differences in sensory perception, special interests, and anxiety (3). The estimated worldwide (and UK) prevalence of autism is at least 1% (1, 4, 5). More recently, one study in Northern Ireland has found a 4.7% prevalence in school aged children (6). The rate of diagnosis has increased steadily in recent years, which correlates with better awareness of autism, increased screening, and more accuracy in diagnosis (1). There is a growing understanding that there are geographic and demographic disparities in rates of diagnosis, with women, socio-economically disadvantaged populations, and those in countries with less awareness or more stigma around autism all being significantly less likely to receive a diagnosis (1, 7). In addition, we have an incomplete understanding of those who may not receive a diagnosis but who self-identify as autistic, and these individuals are unlikely to be recorded in the prevalence data. In this paper we have chosen to use identity-first language (“autistic person” rather than “person with autism”). This reflects the preferences of our autistic authors and current research on the topic, which finds that autistic people generally prefer identity-first language (8, 9). We recognize that some readers will disagree with this choice, and we wish to affirm the ways that autistic people choose to identify or refer to themselves.