New model to support ASD-TG population

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https://www.news-medical.net/news/20200 ... ation.aspx

Great.  Another log for the "All autistic people are LGBTQ" fire.

Of course not all people on the spectrum are LGBTQ . No one remotely sensible should be promoting that idea . However better help and support for those who are should be seen as a good thing .

I'm glad to see transgender autistic people are getting taken a bit more seriously by professionals. I hear about a lot of transgender adults not being listened to and being barred from transitioning specifically because of their autism. Some people just seem to automatically think autistic people are too stupid to ever understand their own feelings regarding something as complex as gender, and that it's their job to dictate whether the person is just "confused" despite consistently matching the criteria for gender dysphoria and sometimes showing signs of it their entire lives.
I definitely understand wanting to be more cautious while having an autistic patient experiencing gender dysphoria, but there's a point where genuine concern and caution becomes just barring someone from transition because you believe they're incapable of understanding themselves. This is why I also can't wait until there's more research on the biology behind being transgender. They're finding evidence that transgender individuals brains are structurally more identical to and react more like the sex they identify as, and I hope someday maybe there can be medical tests or something to aid in determining whether someone is transgender or not, so maybe professionals can feel more comfortable making decisions in these situations and transgender people in general can also have more concrete answers and help in figuring out themselves.

Not all but a higher percentage than NT’s
A Disproportionate Number of Autistic Youth Are Transgender. Why?


I don’t see any ulterior motives here. I think it is a good thing transgender people were involved in setting up the model.

Last edited by ASPartOfMe on 08 May 2020, 8:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Not all of us, but they're a part of this community and there's no reason to have hostility towards them or be hostile to the notion of supporting them.

I might be wrong, but gender dysphoria does seem more common among the ASD population than the general population, if true that would make it a relevant concern for our community.

this is a curious thread to me......... thinks , agrees it should be addressed aswell .

From a personal perspective . At one time I was very insistent I wanted a sex change . It was to the point I was dxed with schizophrenia with disorder of gender identity .


Over time the feeling has reduced . I have never been sure whether (a)It was a delusional obsession that subsided with relative improvement of my mental health (b) an autistic fixation (c) something I chose to repress due to the knowledge that given my history of severe mental illness I'd not be regarded as a suitable case for srs .

Around 40 years on from the dx mentioned I got the Asperger's dx . Hindsight has made me realise that if I was not good at functioning socially, and otherwise, as a male, SRS wouldn't necessarily improve that . Irrespective of being male or female I'd be quite dysfunctional .

You're touching on a concept I've thought of but without really knowing how to investigate;

Given that GD+ASD seems to be far more common than stats might lead one to expect, relative to GD without ASD, it makes me curious how different the considerations might be for addressing GD in individuals who also have ASD.

A significant commonly expressed experience is not feeling capable as functioning in the role defined by gender norms, often with concerns about adopting the label. Sometimes these seem to be elevated to a higher priority over presenting; presenting seem to be a significant motivator for another portion of people who suffer GD, but I'm curious if that's more common in allistic folks with GD.

Anyways, a related something that's caught my attention over the years is the subculture of otherkin and how prevalent ASD is within those circles.

This has lead me to wonder if, potentially some sort of 'autistic identity dysphoria spectrum disorder' exists that might better explain the unique issues experiences by folks with ASD and any sort of identity disorder. I'm really interested in seeing if there's a significant split statistically speaking between those two cohorts when it comes to regret after transitioning, although I imagine that's a really difficult topic to research. If the ASD+GD cohort is more likely to feel regret, that might support these ideas.

When I suggest this, I don't mean to invalidate the identities of any folks with ASD and GD who have transitioned and have benefited from it. At the end of the day my primary concern is only with helping to reduce the emotional burden bore by those dealing with identity dysphorias.

I also believe a multifront approach is ideal, if gender norms and strict binary understanding of gender erode, that should give more leeway to those who feel uncomfortable with the traditional norms of the gender they're identified as to reconcile their identity with that category which would likely leave the remaining people who express TG identity able to receive more focused attention on the remaining cohort's more specific needs. I feel that expanding the norms as well as making it more acceptable for people to express non-binary identities basically represents creating two additional pathways for folks who's primary issue is with the label 'not fitting'.