Ms Blessing Dada:

On my personal experiences of going through school, things are a bit different now than they were then given that since 2020, there have been conversations around Black Lives Matter and there is also greater awareness now of ethnic minority communities, mental illnesses and neurodivergence. Back then, there was little or no conversation around that. I was definitely missed with regard to getting supports in school. There was an experience of adultification, which is a term that explains how young black children are perceived and treated more as adults rather than experiencing the innocence of being a child and of childhood. Back then, I was not always treated as a young black woman and that has had an impact on my mental health. I did not show any of the typical traits of autism. A lot of people are still educated that autism is something only young white boys go through. There were definitely no supports then. I can only hope that through conversations such as this one, things will get better for other young children who are going through the same system I went through.