Oh hey everybody.
This week on Ask Cristen I’m talking about women with autism because they have been so
under-researched and under-diagnosed, they’re often described as invisible.
[Snaps].
That didn’t work.
[Snaps].
This week’s Ask Cristen question is coming from mynameisnotmya who a while back requested,
‘Could you possibly make a video about autism?
It is widely thought that autism is a lot more common in boys than girls however some
studies as well as my personal doctor believe that this is only thought because the behavioral
differences caused by autism are more hidden in girls.
We autistic girls are taught to hide and suppress all of the things we do which are not neurotypical
behavior, i.e. stimming, anti-socialness, and obsessive phases.
Just curios, as I was only diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome when I was 12, despite
my doctors saying I was “clearly autistic”.’
Women in autism has been on my mind a lot this week first of all because it was Temple
Grandin’s birthday on Monday, #radladyalert and also because ‘Guardian’ columnist
and autism activist Nicola Clark revived the hashtag ‘she can’t be autistic’ to raise
awareness of how adult women with autism are often overlooked misdiagnosed, under-diagnosed
if diagnosed at all.
Before I get into those tweets I want to share some facts.
Mynameisnotmya is absolutely correct in saying that autism is perceived as more of a boy
thing.
And it’s been that way ever since we figured out that autism exists.
Austrian pediatrician Hans Aspberger of the eponymous Aspberger’s syndrome initially
thought that autism couldn’t even happen to girls.
And from the very first account of autism published by Dr. Leo Kanner in 1943, the gender
gap is front and center.
Out of the ten autism cases that Dr. Kanner describes, only two belong to girls.
Ever since then autism research has been predominantly conducted on adolescent boys to the point
the diagnostic tools we use even today were developed based solely off of boys’ experiences
and manifestations in neurochemistry.
A 2012 survey from the National Autism Society found that 20% of autistic girls had been
diagnosed by age 11 compared with 50% of boys so that tells you it’s being spotted in
boys earlier.
42% of autistic girls had already been misdiagnosed compared to 33% of boys.
There’s a lot more overlap with comorbid conditions such as OCD, eating disorders,
self-harm, and anxiety that commonly happen with autism in girls particularly as they
hit puberty.
What researchers are starting to really myth bust now is the idea that high-functioning
autistic girls don’t really exist, for a long time they were considered a clinical
anomaly.
Studies are finding that girls are simply better at masking their symptoms and also
that symptoms manifest differently a lot of times in girls which has led to this adult
population of autistic women who are fighting just to be assessed whether they might be
on the spectrum.
For a lot of them like Nicola Clark who revived that hashtag ‘she can’t be autistic’
they’ve sort of had to cope along the way their whole life and have figured out ways
to mimic other people’s normal behaviors and have been side-eyed by doctors who are
like you know what?
You’re a woman with a vagina and hormones so all this weirdness you’re feeling in
your brain and this over-stimulation that you’re reporting, a) you’re probably just
being dramatic and b) it’s probably something to do with you just being anxious, depressed
or OCD.
But the good news is thanks to autism activists like Nicola Clark and mynameisnotmya who are
saying, uh, hey I’m here and I have a vagina and I’m autistic, the research community
is starting to pay more and more attention and really validate how autism works in girls.
In the meantime I want to read some #shecantbeautistic tweets to help all of us understand our misunderstandings
about autism and women.
‘#SheCantBeAutistic because she has PTSD and those symptoms explain her behavior.
(PTSD as a result of bullying because of being autistic.)’
‘“She’s just shy” = many overlooked autistic girls (and my whole childhood).
#SheCantBeAutistic’ ‘She can’t be autistic because she’s too pretty and does her hair.’
‘#SheCantBeAutistic we all get upset and stressed at times: she’s just overreacting.’
Ovary-reacting.
And speaking of gender, I’m really curious about more details how gender identity and
autism might work together.
And also just quick check, I mean and I the only one who was noticing how not only, not
only very binary but also very white a lot of autism coverage is.
Hmmm.
But now as always I want to hear from you.
Does #SheCantBeAutistic really sound like your life?
If so let me know in the comments below and also any other thoughts, experiences, tips
and questions you might have about autism or anything else, leave them in the comments
below because as always you got to ask me some questions so I can give you some answers.