Published on 12, July, 2020
With the increase in realisation that many women with autism often receive late diagnosis (often after several misdiagnoses) it seems odd to see the result.ing effects which I worry are repeating the mistakes of the past.We are reiterating the importance of gender as the determining factor of how the condition manifests. My lived experience says otherwise. - indeed by ascribing "autistic gender norms" in reverse you can pretty much summarise my journey to diagnosis. I would argue that there is a different way of interpreting the information that makes more sense to me based on my lived experience and the disparate expressions of gender (in fluidity, rejections of ascribed roles etc) within the community.What is termed Female ASD categorised by Masking, observational assessment leading to trial and error (fake it till you make it approach) is more about extrovert personalities seeking to fit in and adapting seeking to pre-empt and avoid problems leading to internalising challenges where as the signs traditionally observed which led to the current gender imbalance are active external reactions to present internal challenges. Active external reaction/Meltdown vs Inactive external Reaction/Shutdown if we continue to gender the two main presentation types we only see two out of four quadrants of the xy graph.NT Societal understanding of gender roles and associated traits led us to where we are - by thinking about male and female autism we will continue to have late or no diagnoses for those like me who whilst male have the lived experience of "Female" ASD.Is there any research being done on this?Hope that makes sense and interested to hear thoughts.
Bravo! - your position makes perfect sense to me. Indeed, I have also cautioned people about stereotyping the diversity of reactions that we display to the friction between our autistic traits and environment. I have no doubt that there is much truth in the hypothesis that the gender biases of wider society influence how autism expresses itself, but this alone is far too simplistic, and shows woeful disregard for personality traits, family background, sexuality, differing cultural traditions, and the diversity of underlying perceptual and cognitive traits which autistic people experience.
I have spoken to many autistic people who identify as male and who's behavioural traits fit the stereotype of "female presentation", and I fit that stereotype very closely myself. It is no surprise to me that most of us were diagnosed later in life, often after decades of misdiagnosis and/or misleading rationalisations for chronic mental health problems - just as many females have experienced. Likewise, I have spoken to autistic people who identfy as female, yet who more closely fit the traditionally recognised "autistic behaviours" (itself a flawed concept, IMHO - our internal perceptions and cognition may be innately "autistic", but behaviours are always mediated by environment).
I am all in favour of research into why females, or members of any other demographic, are under-represented amongst those diagnosed with autism; but it is vital that such research is not systemically biased by a-priori assumptions about how autism might manifest itself in members of those groups.
It does a disservice to all autistic people to merely replace one set of stereotypes with another.