On 9th February 2026, CHAD and the Faculty of Public Health hosted a webinar ‘Experiences of women living with neurodiversity in Staffordshire’ with Dr Victoria Riley, Research Fellow at CHAD, University of Staffordshire. In this webinar, Victoria talked through a recent research project with Support Staffordshire, that aimed to better understand the experiences, opportunities and support needs of neurodivergent women living in Staffordshire.
Victoria began by giving an overview of what neurodiversity is and the issues around gender disparities in diagnosis. She highlighted that diagnostic criteria is heavily based on how neurodiversity presents in males only, and that women are more likely to mask their symptoms. She then discussed the qualitative data collection for the study, which comprised of interviews (n=16) and focus groups (n=4) with thirty participants. Participants were mostly aged 36-45, white British women with a diagnosis or self-realised AuDHD.
Victoria talked through the findings of this study and discussed three main themes of “Living in a neurodivergent world”, “Navigating neurodiversity: Diagnosis and support”, and “Strengthening support for neurodivergent women”. Within the findings, Victoria talked about the women’s experiences with health professionals, of accessing support, and the barriers and facilitators to accessing support. Implications for improving support services and the future service provision were also discussed.
Setting out the short-term recommendations to service provision, Victoria talked about, for example, clearer communication on local support, consideration of online platforms, and improving access to health professionals during the administration of medication for neurodivergent conditions. Longer term recommendations included to revisit the referral process, increase local activities for adults and provide specialised support for older individuals.
Victoria also talked about the journey since the research, which included some of the research participants coming together for social support via a WhatsApp group and social get togethers. Victoria finished by emphasising that the research highlights the resilience of neurodiverse women in Staffordshire, the challenges involved from navigating fragmented systems and ways to address the gaps in support.
You can read the full report on the CHAD website here: Experiences of neurodivergent women living in communities of Staffordshire – Community Needs
Analysis
You can download a copy of the speakers slides here.
If you would like to learn more about this research, please contact Victoria:
A recording of the webinar is available below.
Please note, the views of any speaker do not necessarily represent the views or position of the Faculty of Public Health or the University of Staffordshire.
