Megan Prescott formally of British series ‘Skins’ is out

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Megan Prescott is best known for starring as Katie Fitch in the British series Skins in Seasons 3 and 4. Thirteen years after the show ended, the star is opening up about being diagnosed with autism.

“In December 2021 I was diagnosed as autistic. Since then I’ve been slowly getting comfortable with explaining this to people I know, but I’ve been nervous to say anything on here about it because of how badly misunderstood autism in women is by most people,” she wrote on Instagram. “There are still members of my family that I haven’t told about my diagnosis because I know the response will be pretty upsetting.”

Prescott says that women diagnosed with autism are “very misunderstood.”

“When I’ve told people I am autistic, the response I’ve got most often is something along the lines of ‘Well everyone’s on the spectrum a bit’ – which, although it might be well-intentioned, is a pretty s**t response to someone telling you they’re autistic,” she added. “Firstly, that response sounds like you’re trying to console the autistic person by saying ‘don’t feel bad, we’re all a bit like that’ which implies that not only is autism a bad thing, but it also completely invalidates the struggles that that autistic person may have experienced throughout their life.”

Prescott feels that some people downplay her diagnosis as if it’s “not a big deal because it’s something everyone experiences and you’re just not as good at dealing with it.” The former Skins star makes the argument that giving little importance to the diagnosis is “why rates of anxiety and depression in autistic people are so huge.”

She continued, “Autism also isn’t a ‘superpower.’ We live in a society that is constructed from the ground up for people with neurotypical brains. I do believe that autism COULD be a ‘gift’ IF the world we lived in was made accessible to neurodiverse people.

Prescott wishes there were “more conversations about autism in women” as she explains that most “of the diagnostic criteria involved in autism assessment is based on research done exclusively on men.”