Dr Aimee Grant is smiling as she holds her glass Sense award. She is seated in her wheelchair and wears a black dress and green blouse.

Dr Aimee Grant with her Sense award. ©Dr Grant.

Dr Aimee Grant, a senior lecturer in public health at Swansea University, has been recognised by national disability charity Sense, for her work investigating autistic people’s experiences during pregnancy – an under-researched area that she was inspired to investigate after her own traumatic ectopic pregnancy.

The Sense Awards, now in its 21st year, is the charity’s annual celebration of people with complex disabilities and those in their lives that support them, to recognise their achievements.

A wheelchair user, Dr Grant, was diagnosed as autistic in 2019, and a year on had an ectopic pregnancy and needed emergency surgery. The experience was made even more difficult for her by a ward filled with bright lights, noisy conversations and strong smells of bleach and perfume, and she ended up discharging herself from hospital against medical advice.

But what she went through inspired Dr Grant to begin her research and her videos, “Autistic pregnancy, birth and beyond: your questions answered” where autistic experts answer common worries, have been viewed thousands of times. Her focus has now widened, and she is currently leading an eight-year project to understand autistic people’s reproductive health experiences, from beginning their periods all the way through to menopause. She’s aiming to carry out 1,000 interviews during the project and is jointly leading the study with a community council of 11 autistic people.

Dr Grant believes her groundbreaking research could help autistic people who may currently struggle to access treatment when unwell. She also hopes it will help health professionals to better understand differences between Autistic and non-Autistic patients.  

Dr Grant said:

“There is so much misunderstanding about autism and the needs of autistic people, that I do what I can to bust harmful myths. I’m delighted that our work has been recognised by Sense and to have been named as Campaigner of the Year.

“We need maternity care that better meets autistic people’s needs and I believe our research could ultimately make Autistic people better informed about warning signs during pregnancy, such as bleeding. I also hope it will help staff in maternity services by giving them resources they can share with parents.

“The problems autistic people face are real. Ten people told me that they were literally about to give birth but were not believed by maternity staff, because Autistic people often display pain differently. One person in my study had a really difficult time when she had a miscarriage; it was so bad she bled for six months and she was worried about complications, but she couldn’t face going back into hospital.

“We’re not always asking for changes that would be big or expensive.  Believing reports of pain could really improve birth experiences. Turning off the big light and using a small light in the corner of a room or turning off the constant beep of a monitor and watching it instead, could make people feel much more comfortable.”

Richard Kramer, Chief Executive at Sense, said:  

“Dr Aimee Grant has taken a very difficult personal experience and used it to inspire research that will be lifechanging – and potentially lifesaving - for so many autistic people. Her videos about autistic pregnancy have given reassurance to thousands of viewers and the way she is raising awareness within the medical profession of autistic people’s needs is fantastic. We are delighted to name her as our Sense Campaigner of the Year.”

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