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Autism and girls signs poster

freestyle

Hi,

I've put together a printable poster listing frequently overlooked signifiers of high functioning autisms in girls, who have a tendency to mask their symptoms. 

Is any one willing and able to print and display it to get the message out there?

I was inspired to make this poster and get one of the UK's top child autism experts, prof David Skuse, to endorse it, because of my frustration and concern that autistic girls are being refused life enhancing diagnoses because diagnosticians are looking out for male autistic traits.

I was diagnosed with autism just over a year ago and "female autistic" is the first box I've perfectly fitted.  We are now battling to get our daughter diagnosed.  There is evidence that early diagnosis and support can permanantly enhance lives.  I know i'd have had a happier and more producytive life if I'd been diagnosed as a child.

Here's the printable poster link: www.lilystyle.co.uk/.../ (it is quite a big file size as I made it print quality)autism and girls poster

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    I achieved academically (PhD), but do not thrive outside a university or museums environment, and have found it hard to get steady employment. I'm pushing 50 and precarious employed as a 0 hrs research assistant. I had 10 years of bullying at school from 5-15.

  • Former Member
    Former Member

    Hi! I tried to look at your poster, but got a "509 – Bandwidth Limit Exceeded" message.

  • NAS11521 said:

    " Are highly intelligent and academically gifted."

    Autistic girls girls vary as regards intelligence and abilities in  the same way that autistic boys do.

     

    I think they may be above average intelligence, but often under-acheive. Special interests can distract from the required areas of study and bullying can interfere with learning. Anxiety about physical development and social situations also interrupts concentration. And, yes, we are all different.

  • Id do agree with what you say. I'm just keen that the wording shouldn't fuel the erroneous idea that autism can be cured or is a disastrous way to have to live life. The benefits of early diagnosis lie in enabling a girl to have a good image of herself as an autistic person and to have a good knowledge of herself and her capabilities.

  • Thanks for your positive comments, Electra.  I just wrote a long reply which wiped when I tried to submit it coz I wasn't logged in (boo!)

    Re your Q about 'reducing impact of autism"

    1) There's evidence, including what Prof David Skuse has personally experienced in clinic and my own experience growing up undiagnosed, that autistic girls (often) are drawn to fit in social, but keep failing and feel there's something wrong with them, which can  according to Prof David Atkins, cause such stress that it leads to borderline personality disorder at adulthood.  i had this, but cured myself.  I didn't used to believe in inherent gender differences, but it seems there are (though some women have male brains and vice versa) and it was this (www.autismhelp.info/.../) autism and girls checklist atht lead me to seek my own diagnosis.

    2) According to David Skuse, once diagnosed, autistic girls develop a more positive self-image and often come to see their diagnosis as making them special.

    3) Intense world theory suggests early emotional trauma and stress exaceerbates autistic neural development (whatever this is) and I'm not saying I think I or anyone else who is autistic would be better off neurotypical, but at the same time, I wish I didn't have social-blindness and all the autistically common medical sensitivities/chronic conditions I have...

    Does this clarify?

  • I applaud your bringing this issue to people's attention.

    I do wonder about the phrase 'reduce the impact of autism'. I see myself as pervasively autistic, the problems I experience stem from the way the world is and expects me to be, not from being autistic. How do you reduce the impact of autism and have a happy autistic child grow into a happy autistic adult?

    But a good poster!

  • NAS11521 said:

    " Are highly intelligent and academically gifted."

    Autistic girls girls vary as regards intelligence and abilities in  the same way that autistic boys do.

     

    The wording says: "Autistic girls often:"...

    I'm now concerned the word "often" isn't obvious enough.? The intention of the poster is to provide a net for high functioning autistic girls who use their relatively higher intelligence to mimic "normal" social behaviour and I wanted the poster to be as unwordy and easy to digest as possible, but now it seems it can be misconstrued to read "ALL autistic girls" (rather than " autistic girls often")

    Is his a major flaw?

  • It could inspire a NAS campaign, using posters to highlight particular vectors of autism that are under-recognised or poorly supported. There is a need to get these messages across to local authorities, health professionals (including GPs) and schools.

    One way might be for the NAS website to publicise posters representing the needs of autism sub-groups (if I can refer to female autism in that way). Strongly visual messages, forming an accessible feature from the NAS front pages, would help get key messages across.

    Great poster