The Autistic Girls Network is the only national charity dedicated entirely to autistic girls and women.

We are a lifeline for those too often overlooked.

What began as a Facebook support group in 2017 has grown into a national movement and registered charity, reaching Scotland and Wales in 2025. Today, we stand with thousands of families facing late diagnoses, inadequate support, and services still built around male presentations of autism. For many, AGN is the first place they truly feel seen.

Autistic girls are diagnosed, on average, a staggering six years later than boys. By age 18, an alarming 80% remain undiagnosed. In these essential years, many are forced to mask their true selves just to survive. The cost? Skyrocketing rates of anxiety, depression, eating disorders, Emotionally Based School Non-Attendance (EBSNA) and suicidality. Most heartbreakingly, autistic teenage girls are four times more likely than autistic boys to die by suicide, a statistic that demands urgent action.

We counter these trends by offering authentic spaces, building autistic identity, and fostering lasting connections.

In 2025, we delivered 800+ sessions to over 350 young people and women, with 96% reporting greater happiness, 94% feeling more positive about being autistic, and over 90% gaining better self-understanding. Our Facebook group grew to over 34,000 members, with 25,600 active users. We handled nearly 8,000 support requests. Almost 3 million people were reached through our social media channels. We trained 38 organisations and 480 school staff across 28 schools. Our work with the Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) programme expanded considerably with a wider reach across five Local Authorities.

We launched The Haven, an online education platform for neurodivergent young people aged 12-17. With 54% of autistic girls experiencing EBSNA, uptake was immediate, attracting UK and international users and onboarding long-term out-of-school learners.

Why do we need your help

Our rapid growth is a testament to the desperate need for our work, but it comes at a cost. Until late 2024, our CEO ran the entire charity on their own. Today, just three neurodivergent women shoulder core operations. Demand is surging, and every day, we turn away families we wish we could help. Our resources are stretched thinly.

Every mile you run helps an autistic girl be seen, heard, and supported. Ready to make a difference?

Run for AGN.

Autistic Girls Network supports autistic girls and their families, helping them to understand each other, signposting to practical help and creating the basis for a lifelong, positive autistic identity. We also campaign for earlier recognition and diagnosis of autism, run workshops for parents and produce resources and training materials for education, social care and health professionals to help them understand neurodivergency and open their minds to the idea that others experience the world in a different way. Research shows girls are diagnosed on average 6 years later than boys and 80% of autistic girls remain undiagnosed at 18, up to 71% of autistic young people meet criteria for at least one mental health condition and unsupported neurodivergence leads to poor mental health.

For autistic people, outcomes are statistically poor and mental health difficulties increase the likelihood of poorer long-term outcomes including lower social functioning, educational and employment difficulties, poorer quality of life, and a much higher suicide rate than average so it’s a huge problem that has not been addressed. In addition, both research and the experiences in our Facebook group show that while autistic young people have a much higher rate of mental health problems and eating disorders and are far more likely to be under CAMHS than their peers, they have a lower rate of receiving effective help.

For a few years, AGN was mainly an online support group. We now provide resources and workshops, have piloted our first schools training and opened our first face to face group in Stratford-upon-Avon for autistic teen girls. The aim of the group is to build self confidence, wellbeing, life skills and a positive autistic identity for this very vulnerable cohort. There are no other comparable groups within Warwickshire, and only a handful around the UK. Our objective is to help the autistic young people self-advocate, understand and be comfortable with their neurodivergence, be better able to self-regulate their emotions, build connections and friendships with their peers and gain valuable life skills. In turn this should mean they are less likely to suffer mental health problems and more likely to be able to enjoy a stable, independent happy adulthood.

How Your Support Helps

We need your support to help us raise more "unrestricted" core funding to enhance our organisational capacity and build long-term sustainability. This funding will directly enable us to increase vital staff hours, secure essential roles, and invest in management systems and infrastructure, ensuring we can continue to meet rising demand. Every pound allocated will have an immediate and measurable impact on the effectiveness, reach, and quality of our support for autistic girls and women.

With stronger foundations, we can achieve our vision: by 2035, every county in England, Scotland, and Wales will have an autistic girls' peer support group, ensuring no autistic girl grows up isolated or unsupported.