Dr Karri Gillespie-Smith

Color Taste Texture by Matthew Broberg-Moffitt: 9780593538593 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books An accessible family cookbook that offers solutions rather than tricks to empower the food-averse, autistic, and picky eater, with 46 recipes. This much-needed cookbook combines tips and techniques.....

I’m an Autistic classically trained chef and I wrote a food aversion acceptance cookbook and guide titled COLOR TASTE TEXTURE, that’s all about finding out what works for specific sensory needs and how to customize food for them. It’s useful for all ages, no cooking experience necessary.

🔍 Researchers from the Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative (#EDAC) have used an innovative 'photo voice' technique to empower Autistic people with eating disorders to shape the direction of future research. #MedSky

📄 read paper: lnkd.in/dAWSUVyT
🖼️ view virtual exhibition: lnkd.in/dnBHnAh5

Happy first birthday to the Neurodivergent peer Support Toolkit (NEST)! If you are in a mainstream secondary school and interested in setting up a peer support group for neurodivergent young people, see the resources linked in this thread...

What Autistic People Want From Autism Research: AutINSAR 2025 AutINSAR is a much-needed discussion between autistic people and autism researchers about priorities in autism research.

In case you missed it: #AutINSAR is a much-needed discussion between autistic people, autism researchers, family members, and professionals about priorities in autism research. This year it happened during #INSAR2025. Recap at TPGA:

thinkingautismguide.com/2025/05/what... #autism #neurodiversity

Sibling Cafes Seeking care experienced adults and supporters to take part. Now open to: Care experienced adults (16+ years) in Scotland Supporters of care experienced children/adults in Scotland (e.g. foster parent, residential carer) We know that brothers and sisters are important to people who are care experienced. We would like to hear about your sibling experiences to improve research and care in the future. Come along to one of our Sibling Cafes: Information with activities and time to talk An opportunity to discuss what is important to you about sibling relationships and have your say about how the Scottish Government collections information on siblings. You don’t need to bring a sibling to the café. Café dates: Saturday 24th May Central Edinburgh Friday 30th May Online Find out more and sign up: https://edin.ac/4cIYdcs

Are you a care experienced adult (16+ years) or the supporter of care experienced children/adults in Scotland (e.g. foster parent, residential carer)? If so, we invite you to come to one of our ‘Sibling Cafes’ in May (choice of in-person or an online). To sign up and for more info: edin.ac/4cIYdcs

A recruitment poster for a University of Edinburgh study titled "Understanding the Risk and Protective Factors Associated with Eating Disorder Behaviours in Autistic and/or ADHD People." The poster invites UK-based individuals aged 16+ who are autistic and/or have ADHD to participate in a 45–50 minute survey. No official diagnosis is needed. The study aims to improve understanding of eating disorders in neurodivergent populations and offers a prize draw for participants. Contact: s2663353@ed.ac.uk. Includes a QR code and survey link.

As part of my MSc dissertation, I’m exploring the risk and protective factors associated with eating disorders in autistic and/or ADHD individuals. I invite you to complete the survey.
@karri-g-smith.bsky.social

lnkd.in/gcPpMs7c

#ADHD #AutismAwareness #EatingDisorders #Research

At @journalautism.bsky.social we are recruiting!

Thanks to a massive increase in submissions over recent years, we are dramatically expanding our team to appoint FIVE new editors!

See details of the role and how to apply here, by May 23rd.

journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/PD...

A screengrab from Twitter. HeatherLhaney @heather_l... asks: “Why do you think we have so many more kids with Autism” David Dennis Jr. @DavidDTSS quotetweets this reply: “Probably for the same reason there are so many more planets in outer space now than there were before the telescope was invented”

Staple this to RFK Jr’s forehead.

Urgent Action Needed: Tell Keir Starmer to Keep the NHS Out of US Trade Deals

URGENT - there are growing concerns that the NHS will be included in trade talks with Trump 🚨

EveryDoctor has set up a way to tell Keir Starmer within seconds that you do not want this. Please click here, and then share! bit.ly/TellKeir

Peer who led government NHS review failed to declare shares in health firms Lord Darzi’s undeclared interests in four companies included $500,000 of shares in US-based healthcare venture

Anyone else fed up of this stuff?🚨

“Peer who led government NHS review failed to declare shares in health firms.”

This is about Lord Darzi…

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

New German, Swiss, And Austrian Guidelines Recommend Trans Youth Care, Slam Cass Review The recommendations, released by the Association of the Scientific Medical Societies in Germany, come at a time when US politicians erroneously claim that Europe is "pulling back" on transgender care.

1. Major news in transgender care.

Germany, Switzerland, and Austria have just released their trans youth care guidelines.

They strongly recommend trans youth care and slam the
Cass Review in England.

Europe is not "pulling back" on trans care.

Subscribe to support our journalism.

We are delighted to present a selection of *Photovoice photographs, drawings and digital art produced by Autistic people with eating disorders on Inspace @designinf.bsky.social City Screens on Potterrow, each evening across this week.

#Photovoice #research #collaboration #data #photography

@fionaduffy.bsky.social @drhelensharpe.bsky.social @edaceatingautism.bsky.social @edresearch.bsky.social @emynimbley.bsky.social Ellen Maloney, Jess Kerr-Gaffney, Kate Tchanturia, Michelle Sader, Kyle Buchan Gordon Waiter

researchers and clinicians who want to change the way the world understands and treats #eatingdisorders. This is the beginning of change. For those who couldn’t make it along in person please see our virtual exhibition here - www.edacresearch.co.uk/virtual-exhi... (2/2)

A wide open space with 3 frames which have canvases that are lit up. The canvases have a selection of images and text outlining the experiences of Autistic people with Eating Disorders. There is a projector above the canvases.

A wide open space with 2 frames which have canvases that are lit up. The canvases have a selection of images and text outlining the experiences of Autistic people with Eating Disorders. There is a projector above the canvases. A stand displaying menu sheets that detail how eating environments can be improved for Autistic people. In front of a stand is a white table with a blank eating environment sheet and instructions for visitors to have a go at designing autism affirming eating environments. Behind one of the canvases is a big grey column and behind that is a stand with images displayed representing the experiences of an Autistic person with Intellectual Disability who also had an eating disorder. There is a row of projectors above the stands and canvases.

Woman standing with microphone in front of some seated guests with a slide in the background that says ‘The Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative (EDAC) is a UK wide collaborative network that aims to bridge the gap between autism and eating disorders research. EDACResearch.co.uk’ with the symbol for EDAC (which is a purple and green circle interlinking around a white neurodiversity symbol). Behind the woman is two seats and a table.

Woman standing with microphone in front of a slide in the background that says ‘The Eating Disorders and Autism Collaborative (EDAC) is a UK wide collaborative network that aims to bridge the gap between autism and eating disorders research. EDACResearch.co.uk’ with the symbol for EDAC (which is a purple and green circle interlinking around a white neurodiversity symbol). Behind the woman is two seats and a table.

We @EDACautism_ED launched our exhibition on Friday and Saturday. We were over the moon that so many participants and collaborators were able to make it along. @EDAC is more than a research grant or network – we are a #community of #Autistic people, (1/2)

Well that was an amazing opening night of the EDAC "you're not alone" exhibition of Autistic experiences of ED's! Huge shout out to the amazing @Karri_G_Smith , Kyle and Sarah for the enormous amount of work pulling this together and for everyone who made it along tonight 🥰🥰🥰

For anyone coming along to see our exhibition on autistic experiences of eating disorders and research priorities, our peer researcher @eatsleeplaugh.bsky.social has done this handy video to let you know where to go!

We are recruiting UK based clinicians in eating disorder services to think about barriers & enablers for implementing autism affirming care, for example PEACE pathway. If you would be willing to be interviewed over TEAMS there is more information here! edinburgh.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_...

🎉GOAL: get 200 autistic (self dx / questioning valid!) folks in a room to connect and chat about healthcare.

See below! Share to help us! We hit 125 folks last month

us06web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

Unapologetically. ✊🇪🇺

This isn't a surprising but it is devastating.

The great betrayal of Ukraine begins.

We, in Europe, are in a place of danger.

We all owe Ukraine & its people a debt of gratitude for its extraordinary courage. 😢

Image of hand holding up plastic cup with two silver metal spoons in it against a turquoise background. Written text above this stating exhibition details 1st to 8th march (closed Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday) time 10am to 5pm, free/drop in, location at inspace, 1 Crichton street, Newington, Edinburgh, EH 8 9AB

EDAC is proud to host an exhibition of photographs, drawings and digital art on the experience and research priorities of autistic people with eating disorders . inspace.ed.ac.uk/youre-not-al.... 1st to 8th march (closed Sunday Tuesday and Thursday, free drop in 10-5 quiet hour on sat.

Clinicians' Experiences of Eating Disorder Focused Family Therapy With Autistic Young People Objective Eating disorder focused family therapy (FT-ED) is the leading outpatient intervention for adolescents with Anorexia Nervosa. Autistic people report poorer eating disorder treatment experie...

New publication with @edaceatingautism.bsky.social, @eatsleeplaugh.bsky.social @emynimbley.bsky.social and others, qualitative study of clinicians experience of eating disorder focused family therapy (FBT or FT-AN) with Autistic young people and their families onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

Fascinating thread & Table Talk @edaceatingautism.bsky.social @fergus.oolong.co.uk talking with Kyle Buchan re monotropism & autistic experiences of eating, incl. sensory; impact of cognitive load; neuro-normative expectations; orthorexia; validation; trauma; safe foods & more youtu.be/CUyUkjUgKAw

Thanks to everyone who joined our online launch earlier! Great to see so many people in attendance and sharing such insightful thoughts and questions. Feeling even more energised for the next steps!✨️

A recording and FAQ from the event will be available soon😊

A “Round, Bruising Sort of Pain”: Autistic Girls’ Social Camouflaging in Inclusive High School Settings - Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders Although autistic females often “camouflage” their autism, few studies examine the degree to which adolescent females demonstrate these behaviors in inclusive school settings. We examined: (a) the nat...

This is well worth a read.
Autistic girls, & camouflaging/masking, at school.
How friendships with other neurodivergent young people are a lifesaver.
How bullying & exclusion happens from nonautistic pupils.
Who has the behaviour and social skills problems, eh?
link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Associations between maternal smartphone use and mother‐infant responsiveness: A cluster analysis of potential risk and protective factors Contradictory results in the extant literature suggests that additional risk factors should be considered when exploring the impacts of maternal smartphone use on mother-infant relationships. This st...

Happy to share the first empirical paper from my PhD thesis in collab with Angus MacBeth and @karri-g-smith.bsky.social
- a cluster analysis of risk and protective factors for maternal smartphone use and mother-infant responsiveness

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

#PerinatalMentalHealth

Graph showing how many research papers on PubMed academic site talked about autism and quality of life, per year of publication (in some sense...not necessarily our quality of life. Could be that of carers etc).

Slightly excited to find that nearly 400 papers (out of 8000 autism research papers) on PubMed mentioned autism *and* quality of life, last year.
The graph shows the steep increase in the number of papers talking about quality of life (somehow).
Getting there...

The Co‐Occurrence of Autism and Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID): A Prevalence‐Based Meta‐Analysis Objective Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) is a feeding and eating disorder characterized by extensive avoidance and/or restriction of food. Existing research demonstrates that ARFI.....

New publication by EDACs amazing post doc Michelle Sader on the Co-occurrence of autism and avoidant restrictive food intake disorder-meta analysis of prevalence rates ... onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @karri-g-smith.bsky.social @drhelensharpe.bsky.social @fionaduffy.bsky.social

Borderline Personality as a Factor in Late, Missed, and Mis-Diagnosis in Autistic Girls and Women: A Conceptual Analysis | Autism in Adulthood Autism without intellectual disability is diagnosed later and with greater difficulty in girls/women relative to boys/men. For autistic girls and women, the journey to an autism diagnosis may include ...

"Misdiagnosis may further compound such experiences of exclusion, difference, & diminished self-worth.

The label “borderline” is frequently used pejoratively & in sex/gender-typed ways, describing women."

Misdiagnosis of BPD is harmful, esp when people are #ActuallyAutistic