Misdiagnosis: Women and girls with autism are often misdiagnosed or diagnosed late in life. 

Arky, Beth. “Why Many Autistic Girls Are Overlooked.” Child Mind Institute, 31 Oct. 2024, childmind.org/article/autistic-girls-overlooked-undiagnosed-autism/#:~:text=They%27ve%20been%20termed%20the%20%60%60lost%20girls%27%27%20or,sight%27%27%20because%20they%27re%20overlooked%20or%20diagnosed%20late. 

Stereotyped ideas: Stereotyped ideas about autism can make it difficult to get a diagnosis. 

“Autistic Women and Girls.” National Autistic Society, www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism/autistic-women-and-girls. Accessed 9 Jan. 2025. 

Gender differences: Women and girls may score lower on diagnostic measures, which can lead to exclusion from research.

D'Mello, A. M., Frosch, I. R., Li, C. E., Cardinaux, A. L., & Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2022). Exclusion of females in autism research: Empirical evidence for a "leaky" recruitment-to-research pipeline. Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 15(10), 1929–1940. https://doi.org/10.1002/aur.2795

Bullying and social rejection: Autistic women may experience bullying or social rejection from their peers. This can lead to feelings of low self-esteem, depression, and social anxiety.

Oswald, Dr. Tasha. “Loneliness and Autism: Neurodivergent Women - 94303.” Tasha Oswald, 26 Dec. 2023, opendoorstherapy.com/loneliness-autism-neurodiverse-women/.

Masking: Autistic women may learn to "mask" their autistic traits to fit in and be accepted by society. This can be exhausting and take a toll on their physical and emotional well-being. 

Oswald, Dr. Tasha. “Unraveling the Experiences of Women on the Autism Spectrum.” Tasha Oswald, 9 Feb. 2024, opendoorstherapy.com/unraveling-the-unique-experiences-of-women-on-the-autism-spectrum/.

Underrepresentation in research: Women are underrepresented in autism research, which can lead to underdiagnosis. 

Melillo, Gianna. “Women Are Underrepresented in Autism Research, and the Disparity Could Lead to Underdiagnosis.” The Hill, The Hill, 9 Sept. 2022, thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/3636271-women-are-underrepresented-in-autism-research-and-the-disparity-could-lead-to-underdiagnosis/#:~:text=Story%20at%20a%20glance.%20Historically%2C%20females%20have%20been%20underrepresented%20in%20research%20on%20autism.

Exclusion from advocacy conversations: Autistic women have been excluded from advocacy conversations.

 Anne Trafton   |   MIT News Office. “Studies of Autism Tend to Exclude Women, Researchers Find.” MIT News | Massachusetts Institute of Technology, news.mit.edu/2022/studies-autism-women-bias-0908#:~:text=A%20commonly%20used%20screening%20test%20creates%20a,diagnosis%20and%20treatment%20for%20women%20and%20girls. Accessed 11 Jan. 2025.

Challenges for women of color: Women and girls of color face additional challenges, including misdiagnosis, exclusion from the autistic community, and criminalization. 

Gilyard, Katherine. “How Black Autistic Women and Girls Are Excluded from Conversations on Resources and Research.” The 19th, 8 June 2023, 19thnews.org/2023/06/black-women-and-girls-autism-data/.

Awareness and Acceptance

Autistic persons face marginalization, and women face marginalization. Women with autism often feel alienated from both of these groups due to negative interactions with others, compounding mental health problems and feelings of loneliness and not belonging.

Source: personal experience

Inclusive Research

Autistic AFABs/women often do not meet the “characteristics” that researchers look for when conducting research pertaining to autism. In layman’s terms, women are told they are “not autistic enough” and then excluded. Over half of women diagnosed with autism do not qualify for ADOS research criteria (Trafton, 2022)

Source: 

Trafton, Anne. “Studies of Autism Tend to Exclude Women, Researchers Find.” MIT News, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 8 Sept. 2022, news.mit.edu/2022/studies-autism-women-bias-0908#:~:text=A%20commonly%20used%20screening%20test%20creates%20a,diagnosis%20and%20treatment%20for%20women%20and%20girls. 

Personal experience

Support for all Ages/Stages of life

Children with autism require support. Around 40% of women with disabilities have completed primary school, according to Women Enabled International. The percentage of women with autism in the workforce is extremely low. There is no official statistic because there is no overlapping research between autistic women and women being employed. However, in a study of 2,307 people, 56.9% were female and 50.8% of those females were employed. This does not clarify the amount of those women that are autistic. Though, according to the National Autism Society in 2016, 32% of adults with autism were employed. On top of this, women have a propensity to work in healthcare fields, which can lead to compassion fatigue. Autistic individuals may reach burnout or meltdowns in situations that have high social demands (personal experience, 2025)

Sources: 

Bury, S. M., Hedley, D., Uljarević, M., Li, X., Stokes, M. A., & Begeer, S. (2024). Employment profiles of autistic people: An 8-year longitudinal study. Autism, 28(9), 2322-2333. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613231225798

The Right to Education for Women and Girls with Disabilities, womenenabled.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/WEI-The-Right-to-Education-for-Women-and-Girls-with-Disabilities-English.pdf. Accessed 16 Jan. 2025. 

Personal experience

Access to healthcare

Health service use was not directly compared between autistic women and men; There have been no studies to observe discrepancies between healthcare access of women and men. Qualitative research has concluded “higher service use, greater barriers to care, and less satisfaction with services received among autistic women compared to autistic men (Baldwin & Costley, 2016; Koffer Miller et al., 2022; Tint et al., 2017).”

Sources:

Tint, A., Chung, H., Lai, M. C., Balogh, R., Lin, E., Durbin, A., & Lunsky, Y. (2023). Health conditions and service use of autistic women and men: A retrospective population-based case-control study. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 27(6), 1641–1657. https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613221144353

Personal experience

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