There has been a 787% increase in autism diagnoses over the past 20 years — particularly among women.
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/women-and-autism-why-are-there-so-many-new-diagnoses-kt5flkgw9
Katie Moussouris
This. Right. Here.
So if you’ve ever tried to approach me at a conference and I ran away or seemed distracted or both, I was likely experiencing it like I do every time I’m around crowds:
Everything feels like sandpaper & I struggle not to recoil from light, sounds, people, all.
The rise has been greater in women than men.
“Post-diagnosis, I finally had a name for this experience: masking, where autistic people, usually women, try to mask how being autistic can affect them.”
Historically, autism has been seen as a male condition, and estimates of the ratio of autistic males to females have ranged from 16:1 to 2:1
“I felt misunderstood at school and was desperate for a fresh start at university”
“My biggest sense of failure still came from feeling socially isolated, and the harder I tried to fit in, the more cheerful I tried to appear, the more distant I felt”
Charlotte isn’t alone in her experience
The 50 autistic people who spoke to the Times told similar stories of searching for answers, often for decades; being dismissed by healthcare professionals and struggling as they failed to fit the stereotypes of autism
“I thought that I can’t be autistic, I really care about people. It’s really embarrassing to even say this now because it’s such a mistaken idea.”
When Charlotte’s autistic friend suggested to her that she too could be on the spectrum, she laughed it off at first
As a child, Charlotte was always seen as eccentric and living in her own world, but no one inquired about it. Her brother, who has ADHD, drew more attention because adults wanted to stop what they saw as his disruptive behaviour
At the time autism would rarely have been considered as a diagnosis for girls
Matters are slowly changing. This week a new report showed that there was an explosive growth in autism diagnoses in England between 1998 and 2018, largely owing to an increase in recognition.
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When Katharine Graham’s father stepped down from the helm of The Washington Post, the role of publisher went to Graham’s husband — not her.At the time, the family believed that no man should have to work for his wife, curator Jeanne Gutierrez says.
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2021/09/27/katharine-graham-new-york-exhibit