Autism and women. What the diagnostic tools missed.

For most of the history of Autism diagnosis, the clinical tools were built on observations of boys. The presentation considered typical was a white, middle class boy with a particular combination of traits visible to male clinicians. Everyone who did not look like that tended not to be diagnosed.

The cost has fallen hardest on women and AFAB people. We are diagnosed later, often in our thirties, forties, fifties, sixties. Many of us are diagnosed after our own children have been diagnosed, and we see ourselves in the description. Some of us are diagnosed only after the collapse, the burnout that forced the assessment. Many of us are still not diagnosed at all.