Supporting autistic women
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Autism in the news 📰
July 5, 2024 via Psychology Today
""Why are people so mad at me?" This is a question I asked myself repeatedly growing up. Whether it was my frustrated grade school teacher trying to ask me to put on my shoes only to find I chose not to wear them that day or the puzzlingly irritated look on my college roommates when I announced I was going to fetch my mail and returned with just my own, most times I found myself at odds with others, it was a surprise. It was only after years of life, relationships, and learning about myself and others that I made sense of it all, discovering that my preferences were often quite different from others and that courtesy for me would mean taking a few extra steps as well as speaking openly about my wishes."
May 5, 2024 via Independent
"Two late-diagnosed autistic women. One (arguably niche and specific) idea. What do you get? We hope you know the answer – contrary to tropes around autism, both of us are pretty bad at maths.
We were two comedy writers who’d decided to start a new project: a satirical news website based on our experiences of being autistic. Our vision was modest – we didn’t expect to attract a crowd (we’re autistic, we never do). By midday on launch day, our phones started buzzing. We’d expected a light smattering of interest. Within hours, the traffic had crashed the site."
March 8, 2024 via Psychology Today
"Many of my clients, ranging from those experiencing perimenopause to those who are post-menopausal, have confronted the challenges of menopause over the years. Many women experience difficulties around menopause, from hot flashes and night sweats to aches and pains, fatigue, and mood swings. But what I hear from my clients—and what is supported by recent research—is that menopause might pose particular challenges for autistic women."
December 17, 2023 via BBC News
"Not her birth date, but the date that she says changed her life - receiving her ADHD diagnosis.
Six months later, she was diagnosed as autistic too. Now Ellie 2.0, as she calls herself, has over 400,000 followers online, has done a TEDx talk, and her first book Unmasked: The Ultimate Guide to ADHD, Autism and Neurodivergence was recently published. But until her diagnosis, life was very different."
March 15, 2023 via iNews
"Attending the National Diversity Awards was a nightmare for TV presenter Christine McGuinness. Not only was she overwhelmed by the noise of the guests and the overpowering smells of perfume, food and alcohol, the script she had practised for when she’d hand out the final award for the night was changed at the last minute. For someone with autism, this was terrifying. Until she was 33, McGuinness was one of the tens of thousands of women whose autism went undiagnosed. In her raw and exposing documentary, Unmasking My Autism, she wanted to find out why the condition was so often missed in women in girls."
February 14, 2023 via The Guardian
"Immediately, we have learned a little more of what it can be like to experience the world with autism. This new two-parter doesn’t give us too many insights into Packham’s own thoughts, in the way that his gently revolutionary 2017 documentary Asperger’s and Me did, although his interactions during the programme with others on the spectrum are noticeably different to the more familiar sight of him working with neurotypical co-presenters. This time, he is handing the mic to others – meeting autistic people and then helping them to make a film that encapsulates their inner life. It’s a gesture with results as valuable as they are beautiful."
February 10, 2023 via Spectrum News
"For this year’s International Day of Women and Girls in Science on 11 February, Spectrum is highlighting 31 women making a mark on autism research. The following photographs show these scientists in the lab and beyond the bench, and include links to profiles that explore their work and their lives in greater depth."
September 14, 2022 via Refinery29
"Many TV shows and movies have featured characters with autism but a lot of them have struggled to get it right due to stereotyping, a lack of research or casting non-autistic people. In Netflix's Heartbreak High reboot, the complexities of being a young person with autism are explored with authenticity and respect, says one of the show's stars, Chloe Hayden."
September 8, 2022 via MIT News
"In recent years, researchers who study autism have made an effort to include more women and girls in their studies. However, despite these efforts, most studies of autism consistently enroll small numbers of female subjects or exclude them altogether, according to a new study from MIT."
August 22, 2022 via News Medical
"The research from academics based at the universities of Bath, and Cardiff, finds that whereas men have lower emotional needs, women report greater need to engage in emotional experiences. This could be affecting autism diagnosis say the researchers."
From Autistic Linear Spectrum to Pie Chart Spectrum
Is it time to think of autism as a wheel, rather than a line?
August 16, 2022 via Psychology Today
"In the pie chart model, individual autism traits are represented by individual sections. It provides a visual representation of those autistic traits that someone might be higher in, compared to those they might experience in a lesser way."
July 13, 2022 via Spectrum News
"Children with autism show atypical development of brain regions connected to the amygdala, an almond-size brain structure involved in processing fear and other emotions, a new study finds."
June 29, 2022 via Metro
"Christine McGuinness is set to front a new BBC documentary to bring awareness to autism in women and young girls, after the 34-year-old model and mum-of-three announced being diagnosed with the condition last year."
May 18, 2022 via Patient
"A YouGov poll commissioned by charity Autistica revealed a wide lack of understanding and knowledge about autism across the UK. Key findings show that nearly 30% of adults in Britain are unsure whether autism can be cured, and over a third (35%) believe it to be a learning disability."