Miss Essex’s battle to get ADHD and autism test

The winner of Miss Essex 2025 said she wanted to use her platform to share her struggle to get assessed for suspected ADHD and autism.

Claire Redgrave has plotted her difficult journey getting “believed” and tested through her Instagram page, Navigating Neurodiversity.

She said she wanted to break the “stigma” around women and girls being diagnosed, adding the conditions presented themselves differently in men and boys.

The 29-year-old said she hoped through social media she could “give people a place to feel a bit more understood and supported”.

Miss Redgrave, from Basildon, was awarded her tiara last week at the Rayleigh Club and will attend the national final of Miss Great Britain on 17 October.

Last year’s Essex winner, Lauren Jennings, also used her award to raise neurodiversity awareness.

On her Instagram page, Miss Redgrave talks about how the high volume of referrals for such conditions had made it difficult for people to get help and support.

“I’ve been fighting for an ADHD [Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder] and autism diagnosis for quite a while now, and I’ve had problems with people not believing me – like GPs submitting my referral, and then going back and checking and realising that they’ve actually not submitted it properly,” she told the BBC.

If you need support with suspected or diagnosed conditions such as ADHD or autism, BBC Action Line has links to organisations that can help.

Last year, the Nuffield Trust warned that a large rise in demand for assessments and treatments in England had overtaken the NHS’s capacity to meet it.

The Department for Health said it was “vital to have a timely diagnosis of autism or ADHD” and it was “taking action to reduce assessment delays”.

Speaking about raising awareness on social media, Miss Redgrave said: “I just wanted to be able to give people a place to feel a bit more understood and supported, because I felt like I was so dismissed and invalidated because I seem ‘normal’.

“I’ve learned to be like this, I’ve put a lot into this, so I wanted to make sure that it was like a safe space for people to feel like they could go somewhere, and be like, ‘Oh, OK, they’re like me.’”