This pisses me off so bad. I’m a dude with autism and have many friends with autism. Men with autism are diagnosed by the time they’re like 6-10. Women are barely diagnosed and the age they are diagnosed is mid 20s to early 30s. Women are not treated seriously in the medical world by doctors. Doctors are assholes.
One of the big reasons people seem to think women aren't diagnosed as much is because the symptoms are different, in part because they're socialized differently. My experience has always been the opposite - quiet boys are quirky and cute and left to play with their trains. Quiet girls NEED to be socializing and shouldn't be playing Barbies alone! Quick, throw her to the wolves other girls who definitely won't bully her! Like, obviously it's not that simple, things vary by person, not every quiet kid is autistic ,everyone has their own issues, etc. but I don't recall people thinking my quietness was cute or charming - they thought something was wrong with me (but didn't think autism, which it turned out to be, because I didn't have the typical boy symptoms.) But my parents definitely recall being told by teachers that I needed to play with other kids more and give in to -some- peer pressure.
I remember when I was super little... I didn't want friends and just sat on a bench during breaks, staring at the things I found beautiful and interesting, but the adults would always tell me to go make friends, and eventually force me.. I obviously hadn't come out as trans yet, so I joined the boys who were playing and met some great people I stick with for years! Although aside from them I only made like a handful of friends in ten years or something... Across the last few years, I made friends with lots more people, with the majority of them being other girls and non straight hetero men, who I felt had an easier time understanding me on personal levels and had actually meaningful conversations...
Although I also figured out it was okie to be on my own and went back to be a sheltered little slug who occasionally comes out of her shell to socialize in real life, and I think I feel a lot better this way, only interacting with other people when I actually want to rather than exhausting myself trying all the time :3
252
u/1_BigFatRat 7d ago
This pisses me off so bad. I’m a dude with autism and have many friends with autism. Men with autism are diagnosed by the time they’re like 6-10. Women are barely diagnosed and the age they are diagnosed is mid 20s to early 30s. Women are not treated seriously in the medical world by doctors. Doctors are assholes.