A discussion about autism, as well as a question and answer session, took place for South Asian women at Millan Centre recently.

The Victor Street venue saw a panel of speakers engaged by host Saliha Sadiq, who is co-chair and mental health director at Millan Centre and who also works for the NHS.

Panellists included Dr David Sims, consultant/deputy medical director at Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust; professor Nadira Mirza, director of the Race Institute at Leeds Trinity University; and Ava Green of the NHS.

Qasim Ali, a journalist for Urdu news channel SAMAA TV, interviewed the panel.

One of the service users stated that she didn’t want her daughter to be labelled and stigmatised by the community.

Language barriers and lack of culturally appropriate resources were identified as possible obstacles to South Asian families seeking diagnosis and support for autism.

Further work will be carried out by Ms Mirza, Ms Sadiq, and Ms Green with the community.