'We grew up not knowing we were autistic.'

Endymion said:

something of an explosion of interest in autism this month

Endymion said:

recent publicity highlighting autism.

...This sounds quite exciting. Please specify where all of that is, Thank You.

The Channel 4 programme (on Wednesday) is being advertised a good bit and the BBC appear to have links to a few autism stories this month, the two mentioned above for a start. It's certainly better publicity than previously. It was also just earlier this month that there was a lot of talk about reviewing PIP guidelines to take account of AS, and I heard a news story shortly after that about disability parking permits being extended to those diagnosed with autism. That seems like an explosion of interest to me although, to be fair, I perhaps didn't notice such stories so much before my own diagnosis.    

The Channel 4 programme (on Wednesday) is being advertised a good bit and the BBC appear to have links to a few autism stories this month, the two mentioned above for a start. It's certainly better publicity than previously. It was also just earlier this month that there was a lot of talk about reviewing PIP guidelines to take account of AS, and I heard a news story shortly after that about disability parking permits being extended to those diagnosed with autism. That seems like an explosion of interest to me although, to be fair, I perhaps didn't notice such stories so much before my own diagnosis.    

Sorry, it took me a minute to decode that because of the way the threads here are loaded: for a minute I thought you were asking me to ring the supplier of my personality type! 

No, it's not a fault with my internet supplier I'm afraid. We don't have a choice of suppliers up here, it's BT's 1980's snail-pace (no fancy fibre optic for us) or nothing. We chose nothing and got a satellite connection instead. It gives us speeds like the modern world but only until our usage limit is reached then it's back to the 1980's again. It's fine, at the end of the month I get another 10-GB and start all over again. Oh the trials of island life!    : )     

Doesn't sound right - maybe ring your supplier? There could be a fault in the line somewhere. 

I can definitely relate to those things you mentioned, I read something similar a while back and many of the female Asperger's traits resonated with me such as masking and mis-diagnoses over the years. The latter being particularly frustrating because once I read up on the things my previous GP tried to convince me I had, I knew with certainty they did not apply to me! (There is a BIG difference between frustration and depression, for one.)

Isn't it weird that personality types, regardless of NT or ND, are divided or categorised into 'Male' and 'Female' types? I've met so many people who defy those stereotypes that the categorisation itself seems arbitrary. I wouldn't expect my shoe size or my eye colour to determine my personality type, or anyone else's, so why is it expected that genitals determine personality? 

The inclusion of 'female' traits on the diagnostic spectrum at last will, I believe, help just as many men as women to be recognised as having autism and, I hope, help to put an end to this ridiculous sexism re. personality types.     

Hi it is a 42 page document, It discusses why females are missed out being seen, gives variouse stories of females who were diagnosed later in life, how the women masked or were treated for many things other than autism, it suggests that females present differently to males even though share similar traits, specific differences exhist and should be added or used instead of the current Male orientated diagnostic criteria,

I see this problem as so wrong, for to long things have been just left as they are, females are often just described as shy,or suffering from anxiety when in reality may well be autistic.

It is a lot to read but it is a very precise study and highlights why females are often left unnoticed.Ibhope you eventually get a chance to read it.

I tend to relate more with females and always have,

Current research has pointed to the fact some males can have female wiring which isn’t anything to do with gender identity or preference, but may explain why some males are more hyper sensitive to emotion. And have a stronger empathy.

x()x

I couldn't get this link to work for me, it said something about "cannot reach IP address"? I'll try again tomorrow as it might just be my very slow internet speed  : /  

I only get 10-GB per month and when that's used up my speed drops to (what feels like) worse than dial-up. I think it said my speed is currently 64 Kbps but, other than painfully slow, I don't really know what that means other than it's not enough to do much with. 

Thank you for the link though! It's interesting to me that in reading female Asperger's stories, I feel able to relate to other women for the first time in my life. Ordinarily, pre-diagnosis, I tended to relate to men more than women. 

Endymion thank you so much for posting the link to the women’s stories.

I really get upset that even now females are diagnosed using Male orientated criteria, ok there is more understanding of female traits presenting differently to males but still no big change in the main arena for females.

here is a link to information regarding the hidden females on the spectrum.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5040731/

 It seems more awareness is being shared by social media, I can only hope that as more famous people talk about their own experiences it will be more accepted as a difference not a disorder or defect.

It needs to be highlighted how many great things have only come about due to individuals with  Aspergers. It shouldn’t be that way but Highlighting anything using celebrities these days gets a wider audience,

thank you and take care all.

x()x