NATHIDA Chalermsuk, a student from Bennett Springs, is one of seven young people featuring in Y WA’s mental health week short film series, Inside our Minds.

The series of short films focuses on mental health of people with a disability, particularly those from underrepresented communities, their struggles throughout their life and strategies they have learned to deal with ups and downs in their mental health.

Seven young people from across WA feature in the series, with one short film premiering each day of mental health week this week.

The films will be released across social media, and will play in the Northbridge Piazza, Yagan Square and on Curtin University’s Bentley campus.

Ms Chalermsuk said seeing her own family struggle silently with mental health in her younger years pushed her to speak out about her own issues.

“I’ve fought really hard to be able to share my story unapologetically in hopes of destigmatising the subject of mental health,” she said.

“ I’ve had to sit with the feeling of discomfort and fear of judgement from others to do so. My goal is for others to know that they’re not alone and they never have to go through anything alone.”

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, almost half of people with a disability reported as having an anxiety disorder, compared to less than 20 per cent of people without disability.

Ms Chalermsuk is autistic but wasn’t diagnosed until later in life. She said the combination of her diagnosis, coupled with the existing challenge of her culturally and linguistically diverse background, was just the beginning of challenges she faced.

“However, I think the biggest challenge I face daily is that I don’t look like what other people’s expectations of a disabled or an autistic person is, so I’m constantly invalidated by non-disabled people,” she said.

“Although, I’ve come to realise that I don’t have to prove my disability to anyone. The disabled community is the most welcoming and accepting community and we never question another disabled person. We know that disability has a wide range of presentations and encompasses many different things,” she said.

Currently studying psychology and hoping to go into autism research in the future, Ms Chalermsuk said raising awareness and learning more about the condition was key to helping future generations.

“I feel that we need more autistic people researching autism and I hope to be able to bridge cultural gaps in research too. Hopefully, through research, I’ll be able to help inform more culturally safe and inclusive professional practice so that everyone will feel safe enough to reach out to someone in times of need,” she said.

“I wanted to participate in Inside our Minds because I wanted to share my story. I know that what I’ve been through isn’t uncommon, so if others can feel heard and seen through me sharing my story, that would be amazing.”

This year’s film series was produced by The Periscope Crew, a production team staffed and run by young people with disabilities, so this year the films were produced by young disabled people for young disabled people.

Y WA chief executive officer Dr Tim McDonald said the community spirit and passion shone through in the end result.
“Every year when we work on a new Inside Our Minds series, we have the privilege of providing a platform for young people to share their lived mental health experiences,” he said.

“At the Y WA one of our primary goals is to assist our youth community to flourish and give them a voice so this initiative has become a crucial event in our annual calendar.”