OUR VISION
Autism From the Inside’s Vision is for autistic people to have the confidence to live an authentic life with a strong sense of identity, inclusion, belonging, and social connection.
HOW CAN WE SUPPORT YOU?
At Autism From The Inside, we are here to help you on your journey. Our memberships include access to our Autism Resource Vault with content created by autistic individuals who understand the unique needs of our community. Click the button below to learn more.
COACHING & EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE
Looking for relationship advice, support to advocate for yourself or a loved one, or a better understanding of emotional intelligence? We offer dedicated coaching services across a range of topics, including parenting, relationships, personal growth and advocacy.
1:1 Coaching
We support our global community across the complete spectrum of life's challenges.
Whether you're seeking support for intimate, work or family relationships, parenting, personal growth or advocacy, we can offer the support you need.
Professional Training
Our professional training and services provide organisations worldwide with solutions to empower the autistic people they support with their teams and communities to thrive, shared from a lived experience perspective.
EQ: 101
Our flagship program, EQ:101 is a comprehensive journey of understanding emotions.
You will learn how emotions impact almost every aspect of our daily lives and discover the cues you need to achieve emotional mastery in your life.
EVENTS
We host monthly online events that are live and interactive, made to help everyone in our diverse global community. You can find more events like these on our events page.
BLOG
Click the button below to go directly to our blog homepage where you can search and sort by topics/keywords. Or take a look at some of our featured articles below.
Managing Burnout
Managing Burnouts: It's a matter of space
A day of tackling “admin work” means I have to retrieve the right things from my working memory and access all the background information relevant to make that tiny decision, like what to write in an email, what time to suggest, or to say yes or no to a request. Then, I need to switch as quickly as possible between these tasks. Of course, this takes energy, but what takes the most energy is task switching.
Time and Social Anxiety
Do We Make Enough Time for Meaningful Social Interactions?
We are constantly reminded about the value of time, but what about the importance of connection and good relationships? Imagine the difference it would make if we prioritise and invest our time into developing more meaningful social interactions to form deeper relationships.
On Not Being a Duck
On Wanting to Be a Duck But Not Being a Duck
Reflections on wanting to be a duck but not being a duck, an analogy on masking as an Autistic person, trying to fit into a neurotypical world.
VIDEOS
Seven Signs of Undiagnosed Autism in Adults
Autistic Burnout and Overstretching Yourself Playlist
AUTISM FROM THE INSIDE
Welcome to Autism From The Inside (AFTI), where we provide a safe and inclusive space for the autism community to connect, learn and grow. Here you’ll find a wealth of resources and information to help you navigate your autism journey, including free resources, blog articles, videos, as well as live online events and webinars.
What we do:
Each month, as part of our online membership community, we host a webinar on various autism-related topics. We also run online community events where autistic individuals from around the world can connect and share their experiences in a safe and neuro-affirming setting. In addition to our (paid) member content, every week we release a publicly accessible video to our YouTube channel, including semi-regular livestream Q&A sessions. Both Paul and Shannan are available for individual and relationship coaching sessions and for bespoke speaking, workshops, and training engagements. As of 2025, Paul is in the process of writing his first book that we can’t wait to share with you, and we are planning another online Summit for the end of this year.
Our Vision is for autistic people to have the confidence to live an authentic life with a strong sense of identity, inclusion, belonging, and social connection.
We tailor our programs to meet the diverse needs and interests of our community. Whether you want to learn more about autism, develop new skills or connect with like-minded individuals, we've got you covered.
Our Story:
After discovering he was autistic at age 30, Paul Micallef shifted his career focus from aerospace engineering to working with those in the autistic community. Sharing his experience through public speaking and advocacy, he started a YouTube channel which now has over 400,000 subscribers, and became an ICF accredited life-coach in 2024. Through this work Paul met Shannan Lea, whose own experience as a late-diagnosed autistic woman and mother to an autistic child gave her a shared passion for working with autistic individuals as well as their parents/carers.
Together, Paul and Shannan launched Autism Explained (which eventually became a part of Autism From The Inside) in 2019 with the aim of empowering parents and teachers to create safe, supportive environments for autistic children. After this video went viral, garnering 5M+ views on Facebook, they created their first course titled, Autism 101 For Busy Parents (which you can still purchase or watch for FREE as part of an AFTI membership). After one of their videos went viral, garnering 5M+ views, they created their first course titled, Autism 101 For Busy Parents (which you can still purchase or watch for FREE as part of an AFTI membership). That same year was the inaugural global online autism summit, a free event with over 10,000 attendees, featuring expert autistic speakers from around the world. From there, they began offering webinars, workshops, and courses through their website.
In the years since Autism From The Inside was established, together Paul and Shannan have provided coaching, training, and support to neurodivergent individuals, their families, friends, and employers; created educational and neuro-affirming content including hundreds of YouTube videos, five global online summits (and counting), and dozens of webinars, courses, and workshops…and we are continuing to grow.
OUR TEAM
Paul Micallef
Autism From The Inside
Paul Micallef discovered he was on the Autism Spectrum at age 30. Since then, Paul has worked with countless autistic adults and children, as well as educating teachers and students about autism. Paul is also an aerospace engineer with a passion for teaching and emotional intelligence.
Shannan Lea
Autism From The Inside
Shannan has a BA from ANU and is completing a master's degree in Autism Studies. at Griffith University. Following 15 years in corporate training, Shannan was inspired to complete postgraduate study after her son was diagnosed with autism just prior to his third birthday. She is a full time parent, carer, student and advocate, focusing on supporting parents, teachers and families in understanding and celebrating the diversity, skills and talents of children on the autism spectrum.
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