Research has revealed that 75 million people globally are diagnosed as being on the Autism Spectrum and over one billion identifying as neurodivergent. And according to recent studies, neurodivergent people are three times more likely to encounter mental health issues in their lives.
This can be difficult especially for teenagers, who are also navigating their own set of challenges in such phase of their lives themselves. As such, support for teenagers in the autism and neurodivergent spectre is of critical importance.
The newly launched social media app Kaboose looks to address this matter by connecting young neurodiverse people to their ‘tribe’, that is people of similar age who have the same interests that they can form a bond with and relate to with ease and safety in mind. Kaboose aims to improve mental health and connection for neurodivergent young people, helping them find friends, mentors, and employers who are supportive of them.
Michelle Ridsdale (pictured) founded Kaboose after seeing the struggles that her own autistic son has gone through in his teenage years, especially the difficulties he had at school in finding friendships and maintaining healthy relationships, which has led to ongoing issues with his mental health. She believes that if he had had a tool such as Kaboose to help find friends with who he could relate and feel understood, those formative years would have been much easier to navigate and led to a healthier mindset.
“As a parent of a child with autism, my experience in advocacy and through my volunteer work in autism and disability, I’ve met too many young people struggling to find and make friends,” Michelle says. “Seeing my own son suffer from feelings of loneliness and disconnectedness, I decided to set up a community that could safely facilitate the building of supportive tribes and allows our young people to develop relationships that are meaningful for them as well as supporting their journey into employment.”
Approved by NDIS Australia, Kaboose had its soft launch in 2022. Since then, the app has seen over 1000 people from countries including Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom join and countless friendships formed. Kaboose was the 2022 winner of the RMIT Tech4Good Spark Festival, and a finalist in the StartUp Vic and Victorian iAwards.
