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Practice, Think Autism Melbourne 2026
Three practitioners on how to tell a neuroaffirming provider from a label
In short
Asked what families and clients should look for, a Think Autism Melbourne panel pointed to booking systems, generic websites, unadapted therapy and how a therapist behaves when a client pushes back.
Read it instead, 5 minutesThe transcript
The story
The practical question at the end of most debates about neuroaffirming care is the one a parent or a newly diagnosed adult faces with a list of search results in front of them. At Think Autism Melbourne, Dr Naomi Malone put it to her panel of practitioners directly. With the term on so many websites, she asked, what should parents, teachers, professionals and potential clients look for when choosing a provider, and what are the green flags and the red flags?
Shristi Chand began by moving the test away from what a practice says about itself. Neuroaffirming practice, she said, “isn’t something that should be in your bio”. A person should feel it in a practitioner’s presence and in how they show up. Her first green flag came before any session had started. It was the range of ways a client can make contact, and the flexibility around them. A practice cannot call itself affirming, she argued, and then offer a phone call as the only way to book an appointment. People need to be able to show up in the way they have capacity for.
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Sources the story draws on
- Guidelines for Selecting a Neurodiversity-affirming Mental Healthcare Provider (opens in a new tab), Reframing Autism (Australia)
- Autism spectrum disorder in adults: diagnosis and management (CG142) (opens in a new tab), National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), United Kingdom
More from Think Autism Melbourne 2026
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