No Patient Left Behind

No Patient Left Behind

In No Patient Left Behind, our second episode of Season 4: Neurodivergent Healthcare, I am joined by Angela Gehrt. Angela is an Occupational Therapist working on her capstone project for her doctoral work, and the focus of her research is on improving Neurodivergent Healthcare!

Some of the interesting statistics she shared with us include:

– Autistic life expectancy is reduced by 16-30 years, and Autistics are more likely to die in every disease category than their non-Autistic counterparts.

– Autistics are twice as likely to use emergency departments and die after attending emergency care.

– Autistic people are three times more likely to require inpatient admissions.

– 80% of Autistics reported difficulty visiting a GP when needed unrelated to costs, compared with 37% of non-Autistics.

– 56% of Autistics delayed seeking care because they don’t feel understood. Only 13% of non-Autistics reported the same challenges.

– Only 13% of physicians felt they had adequate (not good but adequate) tools and resources to serve Autistic patients.

Check out the episode to hear about the research Angela is doing, and be sure to check out the Show Notes which will include links to the research Angela cited!

See the Show Notes below!

Listen to this Episode Here

Show Notes

• Doherty, M., Neilson, S., O’Sullivan, J., Carravallah, L., Johnson, M., Cullen, W., & Shaw, S. C. K. (2022). Barriers to healthcare and self-reported adverse outcomes for autistic adults: A cross-sectional study. BMJ Open, 12:e056904.
• Zerbo, O., Massolo, M. L., Qian, Y., & Croen, L. A. (2015). A study of physician knowledge and experience with autism in adults in a large integrated healthcare system. Journal of Autism and Development Disorders, 45:4002-4014.
• Amy’s Book
• Amy Bodkin Special Needs Membership

I hope you enjoyed listening to today’s episode and gained some new insights into the wonderful variety of people in our world! 

And remember, Special Needs Kids are People Too!