The autistic women denied a diagnosis for decades
When the television presenter Melanie Sykes and the model Christine McGuinness revealed they had been diagnosed with autism as adults, it brought new attention to the challenges for others like them whose symptoms have been missed. This is the story of one autistic woman – and how diagnosis in her thirties changed her life
The inaccurate cliche goes that autism is a case of ‘extreme male brain’ – and for years, women and girls were excluded from some studies, meaning those with the condition have been undiagnosed or misunderstood. But during the past 20 years, the proportion of people diagnosed with autism who are women and girls has increased – and some estimates now suggest that they make up around one in three of those who meet the diagnostic criteria.
Despite that improvement in understanding, the popular perception of autism remains skewed towards ‘male’ traits, which means girls who may mask their symptoms are still ignored or subjected to unhelpful treatment as they grow up.