Published on 12, July, 2020
Please know that I'm not writing this to be deliberately inflammatory or provocative, or to have a go at anyone here, but I just feel so isolated as an Autistic woman. Most other Autistic people I've engaged with are men, and seem to have quite a different presentation and outlook on life to me. They are often very blunt, whereas I'm not. When I get emotional, they don't seem to understand - I've been accused of 'emotionally exploding', for example, simply for expressing that I felt uncomfortable with a conversation. It's more than that, though, to be honest I'm finding it quite hard to explain in logical terms...I just don't feel I fit in in the Autism world or the neurotypical world, and I'm wondering if this is because I'm female. Does anyone else feel this way?
The more times I read this post, the more ridiculous it seems. How can Autism be a man's world? Autism doesn't have a sex or gender.
Of course it doesn't. But don't forget the whole concept of autism was first built on observation of males. Already women are a step behind because it's still seen as a stereotypical "male" thing. And this idea is still held by many medical professionals such as GPs who don't refer female patients or other professionals who don't consider autism when treating mental health. Im making generalisations here, but women can be seen by some as being "overly dramatic" and with this stereotypical opinion of a woman, the discussion is shut down so they don't get the help they need.
I don't know autistic males. Of the three people I know with autism, all three are females (of various sexualities). And so, when an assessment was suggested to me, my initial thought was why would they think a male has autism? Is it because I'm gay? So, I suppose, it's our experiences and confirmation biases that are actually more significant than the statistics.