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About me

My name is Christine Jenkins. I’m a late-in-life identified Autistic woman, officially assessed in 2009 at the age of 48. My pronouns are she/her.  I publish as Christine A. Jenkins or 

C A Jenkins.

• You should hire me as someone who thinks outside the box.  My unique brain will consider your situation differently and creatively. I’m not afraid to say, “There is no box!”

• I am an Autistic philosopher and the Mother of Reinvention.  My latest hat career is as an independent researcher, often attached to academic teams on aging-related issues.  I bring valuable lived expertise to any research project.

• I have published both popular and scholarly works on several topics.  My ORCiD profile for scholarly publications is https://orcid.org/0009-0005-6669-0125  

My paper on an international menopause survey published December 22, 2024 is here (free PDF with corrected layout different from the Neurodiversity version):   https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7305318539588952065/

• I work with people all over the world in order to make it a more welcoming place for Autistics. I listen to #AutisticElders and #IStandWithNonSpeakers .

• I love to communicate in writing and in person. Keynotes or panel presentations

• I believe in bridging silos and building community for both education and support.

• I advocate for #AutisticJoy and thrive by breathing #AutisticOxygen.

• See my Linktree or contact me for hire: https://linktr.ee/christineajenkins  

My rate is $100/hr (sliding scale TBD)  Email me at: cjAUsomeConsulting@gmail.com

Biography

• After self identifying and seeking assessment for 8 months, Christine got oral confirmation as Asperger’s in late 2008 under DSM-IV, aged 48. It took her four months to get proof in writing. She now calls herself Autistic.

• Since 2011, she has helped found two Facebook support groups and one in-person which now has a chapter in Toronto (new name, Good Company).

• Christine is the author of The Ottawa Bicycle Book (1982) and co-editor of The Canadian Cycling Association’s Complete Guide to Bicycle Touring in Canada (1994).

• A Carleton University journalism major, she was a CKCU radio host and producer for 22 years after graduation. She co-organized the first-known conference for Canadian spectrum women in Ottawa in 2013.

• Christine served on the Policy Advisory Group for Girls and Women with ASD of CAMH/Autism Ontario in Toronto, under Dr. Meng-Chuan Lai, who she met in June 2017.

• She joined the Ottawa Adult Autism Initiative in May 2018, when she met her lomgterm associate and co-author, Dr. Margaret Janse van Rensburg. She is a contributing author and proofreader of the popular book, Spectrum Women: Walking to the Beat of Autism (JKP, 2018)

• At Montreal’s INSAR 2019 she and social worker Dori Zener organized and co-hosted the first women’s meet-up.

•  Christine spoke on ageing (dis)gracefully at the NAS Women and Girls Conference, Edinburgh in September 2019 and brought the Icelandic documentary, Seeing the Unseen, to Carleton University later that fall.  This resulted in the Bridging the Silos menopause three-year study, detailed next.

• A newer initiative is as Director of Christine Jenkins AUsome Consulting in Ottawa, Canada. She created a six-member team Bridging the Silos from two universities including Carleton, to study Autistic Menopause from 2021 to 2024.  See Announcements or visit www.autisticmenopause.com.

• Christine was named in 2024 to the editorial board of Autism in Adulthood, the highly-rated research journal, after being a peer reviewer since its debut in 2019.  She sees her role as promoting other independent and non-academic researchers who pursue excellence, as well as mentoring emerging researchers in academe.

Endorsements

"Christine is a strong community researcher.  Her ideas are innovative and her work is rigorous.  She is opinionated and speaks her truths.  A collaborative, community-based researcher."  Dr. Margaret Janse van Rensburg, 2025.

After editing the first draft of Supporting Spectacular Girls (Jessica Kingsley, 2021):  “Thank you for all your help during the writing of the book.  You helped me to see other perspectives, which led to much needed changes.  You are such an incredible, switched-on, young-minded, intelligent woman who I really admire.” 

—Helen Clarke, author and counsellor 

“I just saw your interview on Mind Your Autistic Brain (Now Beyond Chronic Burnout) on YouTube (Ep. 120), and wanted to reach out….I related to you so much.  I’m 61 yo and self-identified about 5 months ago…. Of all the videos I’ve watched, watching you I felt the most like there’s someone that’s a lot like me.  I appreciate all you’re doing.” 

–unsolicited e-mail feedback Sept 2023, identity kept private. 

Anonymous feedback after 2019 NAS Edinburgh talk on Ageing:  “Christine Jenkins was personally the most useful, as I am perimenopausal and can find little about being autistic and menopausal…”  

“Christine Jenkins’ presentation was not immediately relevant…Having said that, I am extremely grateful to Christine for the work she is doing, because I know that is laying the groundwork for ensuring my daughter a better, more supported future as an autistic older woman.”

“Glad this research is coming to fruition.  You are a natural researcher.  [Research study Autistic Experiences of Menopause] has the potential to have a huge impact on people’s lives and will help to compensate for the struggles others of us have had to endure.” –Sept. 2021 UK Bridging the Silos menopause study co-researcher Rose Matthews

“Christine is a pioneer, using her brains and energy to create an autistic safe space that allows spectrum elder sisters to unmask safely, and help others do likewise. Truly ground-breaking.”

–Oct. 2019 Lyndsay Green, sociologist and aging consultant.   https://www.lyndsaygreen.com/blog/connecting-and-learning