New SF Supervisor Bilal Mahmood says he was diagnosed with Level 1 autism a few years ago, as part of his announcement to declare the month of April 2025 as Autism Awareness Month in San Francisco.
New District 5 Supervisor Bilal Mahmood sent out a press release early this morning announcing a resolution that he intended to proclaim April 2025 as Autism Awareness Month in San Francisco. This is a fairly standard SF Board of Supervisors resolution. At today’s board meeting alone, there will be similar resolutions to declare May 2025 as Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, to declare April 6-12 as National Crime Victims’ Rights Week, and to declare April 2025 as National Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month.
But Supervisor Mahmood’s press release took a very unexpected twist. He went on to say in the release that he himself has been diagnosed with autism.
“For a long time, I felt different from others but didn’t fully understand why,” Mahmood said in the announcement. “Receiving an autism diagnosis late in life helped me understand my differences and embrace them as strengths. From experiencing monotropism to sensory sensitivities to strict routines — I’m choosing to share this part of myself in hopes of destigmatizing autism and showing others, especially our youth, that they are not alone.”
Mahmood also gave an interview to the SF Standard, explaining that he’d received the diagnosis of Level 1 autism only within the last few years.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about autism, and we’re seeing a trend of more people sharing their personal stories,” he told the Standard. “We have to destigmatize autism.”
This may draw a little skepticism — after all, Mahmood has fudged details about his biography in the past. But it’s certainly plausible, as the SF Unified School District and Department of Public Health estimated that one in 36 children nationwide are on the autism disorder spectrum, and that percentage has increased substantially in the previous decade. So this is statistically quite common.
And the diagnosis is not inconsistent with Mahmood’s pre-elected office background as a tech founder and executive. According to the Carleton University Paul Menton Centre for Student with Disabilities, individuals with Level 1 autism (which used to be called Asperger’s Syndrome) are “usually highly articulate, in speech and in writing. They tend to be attentive to detail, with strengths in rote memory and a systematic, logical approach to problem solving.”
This would make Mahmood SF’s first-ever elected official to come out as having autism. If you find this a particularly historic moment worthy of beholding, Mahmood will introduce his resolution today at the 2 pm SF Board of Supervisors meeting which will be live on SFGovTV.
Image: @bilalmahmood via Twitter
