Since she was a child, Carolina Nobre realized that there was something in her that did not fit into the world's frames. Sounds hurt, social interactions drained her, and her internal universe pulsed with an intensity that few could understand. Still a child, she learned to camouflage herself, to adjust and to fit in, even if it meant leaving pieces of herself along the way.

"It was only in adulthood, after much invisible pain, that I began to suspect that there was something beyond anxiety and 'sensitive way of being'," she says. The answer came as a relief: autism. A name, finally, for everything that had always been there, silenced by external demands.

The liberating diagnosis

Contrary to what many think, the diagnosis was not a sentence. It was liberation. It was the beginning of a new, more loving, more coherent, more whole perspective. 

"I started to see myself with more kindness, to understand my limits and to give a name to old pains," says Carolina.

It was precisely from this self-reunion that she transformed pain into direction. She became a dentist, returned to university to study medicine, founded an institute, wrote two books, and found in medical cannabis a care that respects her uniqueness.

The turning point called cannabis

Amidst a daily life of sensory exhaustion, overload crises, and sleepless nights, cannabis appeared as a hope. And then, as a key that opened previously locked doors.

"Cannabis helped me get out of a constant state of alertness, sleep better, and live with more emotional clarity. With it, I was able to access a regulation that previously seemed impossible," she says. More than a medicine, it became an ally in the process of self-understanding. A care that does not violate, that does not try to standardize... just supports.

Pains that teach, words that support

"My pains were not just mine," she says. And it was this understanding that led her to write Invisible Pains — Female Autism and Autistic Connection. The books are invitations to listen, bridges thrown so that other people do not cross the deserts that Carolina traveled alone.

Writing, for her, was healing. It was turning scars into a map for those who come after. "I wrote to support and to educate. Because when we understand, we support better."

The Carolina Nobre Institute: a dream born of urgency

Founded in 2019, the Carolina Nobre Institute was born from the desire to demystify the autistic universe, as its slogan says, but also from the urgency to build a safe, interdisciplinary, and truly inclusive place. A space made by those who live in the skin of what they defend.

There, Carolina and her team promote support, training, and listening for families, professionals, and neurodivergent people. "I wanted to create what was missing for me," she summarizes. And she did.

From the office chair to the white coat of medicine

Before becoming almost a doctor, Carolina was (and still is) a dentist. She chose to care for children and people with disabilities, those that many professionals avoided because they found them "difficult". For her, there has always been beauty in singularities.

The transition to medicine, at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), was challenging. Facing ableism, fatigue, and the weight of being different in an environment still so rigid requires daily courage. But she resists and moves forward.

"I want to use this degree to care for people like me — neurodivergent, marginalized, invisible. I want to be a bridge, a shelter, and a voice."

The female autism that (still) does not fit in the manuals

Carolina is one of the most powerful voices speaking about female autism, the one that does not scream but weighs. That does not fit into the male stereotypes so widespread in medical literature. That is deep, real, and neglected. "It is exhausting, often lonely, but also revolutionary. Because every time I position myself, I create cracks in these standards," she explains. For her, living her authenticity is also a political act.

One of the cruelest myths that Carolina faces is the supposed lack of empathy among autistics. "This deeply hurts me. We feel so much that sometimes we overflow. What is lacking is not empathy, it is translation."

When medicine learns to listen

And perhaps that is exactly what she has been doing: translating feelings, experiences, and lived experiences that have been silenced for a long time. The medicine of the future, she believes, needs to be less about protocols and more about presence. "The future lies in the intersection between science, humanity, and inclusion." 

For the girls who, like her, are discovering they are autistic in their youth, often too late to avoid deep wounds, Carolina leaves a message: "You are not wrong. You are not alone. And you do not need to mold yourself to fit into places that were not made for you," she emphasizes.

Carolina Nobre is more than a doctor. She is a writer, activist, dentist, founder of an institute, and one of the leading voices in the fight for a more accessible society for neurodivergent people. But above all, Carolina is a bridge: between silence and word, between science and affection, between protocol and care. And like any good bridge, she supports, connects, and leads.

Specialist Guilherme Nery, a general practitioner graduated in Cannabinoid Medicine, explains about the consequences of late diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder. Check it out: