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ASPartOfMe
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08 Oct 2015, 10:47 pm

This article has recommendations
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2015/10/autism_in_girls_and_women_is_difficult_to_diagnose.html


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iliketrees
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09 Oct 2015, 2:31 am

All these articles confuse me. So called "male" descriptions fit me better than these new female ones emerging. Am I not a girl? I don't get it. :?



ASPartOfMe
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09 Oct 2015, 7:35 am

iliketrees wrote:
All these articles confuse me. So called "male" descriptions fit me better than these new female ones emerging. Am I not a girl? I don't get it. :?


They are tendencies not absolutes that would fit every Autistic female.

I would not just list examples of repetitive interests but emphasize they are examples not diagnostic criteria. I would change the examples so they are on not only stereotyped American white middle upper class boy interests.


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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity

It is Autism Acceptance Month

“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman


InquisitiveCat01
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09 Oct 2015, 8:02 am

ASPartOfMe wrote:
iliketrees wrote:
All these articles confuse me. So called "male" descriptions fit me better than these new female ones emerging. Am I not a girl? I don't get it. :?


They are tendencies not absolutes that would fit every Autistic female.

I would not just list examples of repetitive interests but emphasize they are examples not diagnostic criteria. I would change the examples so they are on not only stereotyped American white middle upper class boy interests.


Exactly! For example many girls love barbies growing up - there's nothing unusual about that. However this can cause an Aspie girl to go undiagnosed because her obsession with barbies appears to be normal but what the psych doesn't know is that she doesn't play with barbie the way other girls do and she seems to collect clothes/items and facts about barbie that is unusual compared to other girls. On the surface this appears normal but the point is that ASD is stereotyped even among professionals. It's not the type of interest but the intensity that matters.

Also because of the pressures on girls to be more social, there is a higher rate of acting amongst them compared to boys who aren't expected to be as social. But this does not apply to every girl of course. The same could be said of boys - what if a boy's obsession was baseball and his parents expected him to be very social and popular? Most people wouldn't bat an eye at that, but this boy could also be Aspie.



League_Girl
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09 Oct 2015, 11:26 am

I was also hard to diagnose and this could be why I was missed for years. I was very social. Very social does not equal good social skills. Also because AS was not known by lot of doctors when I was a young kid nor the whole autism spectrum.


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