Rose, age 9, wants to be an author when she grows up.
An avid reader, she has finished all but one of the Treehouse books by Andy Griffiths and Terry Denton.
“I wonder when Andy and Terry will ever stop writing and drawing books – they are going to have to stop it soon or otherwise the treehouse will fall down,” she says.
Her father, Newport firefighter Paul Albietz, is raising awareness for girls who are often diagnosed with autism later than boys and miss out on early support.
“With Rose, she wasn’t hitting any milestones, it was always something unusual,” he said. “We started doing early intervention when she was two and a half – but we didn’t know what we were doing it for.
“We never really had a diagnosis until she was just starting school.
“The earlier you can do the intervention, the better the outcome is for the life of the person.
“Often [for girls] they pick it up later on and there’s always missed opportunities for intervention, and support for the family as well.”
Rose chimes in with a maturity beyond her years.
“In the old days, people with autism didn’t even know they had it,” she said.
The United Nations is this year focusing on the importance of empowering girls and women with autism and involving them and their representative organisations in policy and decision-making.
Rose is one of the first members of a volunteer group called Yellow Ladybugs, which supports girls and women with autism.
“We were going to all these things where there were just boys everywhere, we never really saw girls on the spectrum until we joined the Yellow Ladybugs,” Mr Albietz said.
“They’ve got a couple of adult females who have been diagnosed on the spectrum, as ambassadors … it’s good to see examples of other people.”
