Access to Reproductive Health Care: Autism and Intellectual Disability Edition

Summary

In this episode of Not Your Mama's Autism podcast, Lola Dada-Olley and her husband, Tosan Olley, discuss the complexities of navigating reproductive healthcare for their daughter, who is on the autism spectrum. They share their journey from recognizing the onset of puberty to preparing for their daughter's first period, emphasizing the importance of communication, family support, and collaboration with healthcare providers. The couple reflects on the emotional challenges and milestones they encountered, as well as the long-term considerations for their daughter's reproductive health.

Takeaways

• Navigating reproductive healthcare is crucial for children with autism.
• Communication about puberty can be challenging but necessary.
• Dads play an important role in discussions about reproductive health.
• Preparation for menstruation involves multiple therapy disciplines.
• Understanding sensory challenges is key in healthcare planning.
• Access to reproductive healthcare can significantly impact quality of life.
• Long-term planning is essential for children with special needs.
• Collaboration with healthcare providers is vital for effective care.
• Celebrating milestones is important in the parenting journey.
• Pre-decisioning helps in managing future healthcare needs.

Chapters

00:00 Navigating Reproductive Healthcare for Our Daughter

02:51 Understanding Puberty and Its Implications

11:10 Preparing for the First Period

16:25 The Day It Happened

20:14 Long-Term Considerations for Reproductive Health

25:03 Celebrating Milestones and Future Planning

Transcript

Lola Dada-Olley (00:01.395)

Welcome, welcome everyone to the Not Your Mama's Autism podcast. I am back yet again with the hubster, the hubby, Tosan Olley. We are talking about a not so light topic about our daughter's reproductive healthcare and the decisions we are starting to make for her in hopes of

her living the highest quality of life possible. For those new to the podcast, we have an 11 -year -old daughter who's minimally verbal, on the autism spectrum, and intellectually disabled. So, this episode will walk through some traditionally seen as uncomfortable topics, things like periods, things like cramps.

things like talking it through as a family for a child who has communication challenges. This is naturally a difficult conversation, whether or not your child can traditionally communicate or not. So, our daughter has a history of some sensory challenges associated with the way her autism manifests. So, once she turned 10,

And we knew that that next phase was right around the corner. We had to really sit down and think about the type of options she would have, not only based on her autism, but quite frankly, based on her family history that we know of at least when it comes to reproductive health, our family on my side, at least part of my side of the family, we've had a history of fibroids, PCOS, difficult periods.

how could that potentially look in a growing child who will one day become a young woman who may not be able to communicate things like pain in a traditional way. So, we are pulling back the covers on this so you all could see some of the conversations my husband and I have had, some of the conversations we've had with her healthcare providers and hopes.

Lola Dada-Olley (02:24.707)

that we help other families like ours and not just those families but the health care providers that are part of those villages as well. So with that in mind, let's get started. So, this all started when she was 11 now, is it when she was nine going into 10 or maybe 10?

Tosan Olley (02:51.336)

Mm

Lola Dada-Olley (02:51.971)

talk about the endocrinologist. So, we did a blood test on Alero and we sat in her office and she told us that based on the blood tests, puberty is amongst us.

Tosan Olley (03:08.648)

I think we rewind a little bit. Yes, we did the blood test, but we went into that conversation with the endocrinologist with a little bit at the back of our head that one study showed that puberty seems to be hidden earlier.

And even though she was nine going on 10, it felt like, you k