Women with autism, the great forgotten ones
Coinciding with International Women's Day , a day dedicated to advocating for equality, recognition, and the exercise of the rights of all women, it is important to reflect on the need for a gender perspective to improve the understanding of mental health, in particular, and of human diversity in general.
In neurodevelopmental problems, and especially in autism, this gender-based perspective takes on significant relevance.
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition that interferes with the acquisition of communication and social interaction skills and predisposes individuals to have a series of repetitive behaviors and restricted interests, along with sensory alterations that interfere with adaptation to daily life.
Autism in girls, adolescents, and women often goes unnoticed, which means they have fewer opportunities to receive the support and help they need.
Historically, the body of scientific evidence has been androgenetic, both in defining which subjects were included in studies (primarily males) and in the subjects on which the currently validated diagnostic tools for autism were based. Even the representation of people with autism in society is often based on male role models.
All of this has meant that the presentation of autism in girls, adolescents and women, especially those without intellectual disability, is less well known and, therefore, goes unnoticed and has fewer opportunities to receive the support and help they need.
Irene Farrero Mollfulleda
Adult women with autism often make intense efforts to conceal their difficulties and adapt to societal expectations and demands. This lack of detection and identification prevents girls and women on the spectrum from receiving therapeutic, educational, employment, social, and family support, leading to cumulative distress throughout their lives and increasing their risk of developing comorbidities such as anxiety, depression, self-harm, and suicidal behavior, among other difficulties.
What differences and strengths do women with ASD have?
- They have better communication skills and use socially expected gestures, looks, and expressions that they have learned by imitation.
- They show a greater desire and interest in social interaction, and also restricted interests that qualitatively approximate those of their peers without autism: drawing, crafts, dancing, TV series, animals…
- They often have a close friend or significant other, someone they are very attached to or dependent on, who can be someone they emulate or who can serve as a bridge to the rest of the group. However, they can be vulnerable to abusive relationships.
- They exhibit fewer repetitive motor behaviors.
- It appears that they exhibit symbolic play in childhood.
When and why do women with autism ask for help?
From pre-adolescence or adolescence onward, girls who seek professional help or consultation do so because they have experienced some mental health symptom related to eating, social anxiety (shyness), behavioral problems, or emotional issues (such as sadness, self-harm, or having been bullied ). In girls with a more active personality, interference is detected earlier, both at home and at school, while those with a quieter, more inhibited personality may appear as "perfect" students at school, because there is no interference, but at home, they withdraw or become explosive.
However, women with autism who seek help in late adolescence or early adulthood are looking for ways to better understand themselves. They express feeling different from others, not connecting with others in the same way, and not knowing why. They also explain that they become exhausted in social interactions for various reasons (boredom during conversations, not knowing what to say, misunderstandings, etc.), to the point of needing to be alone to recover. At this stage, many of them are already able to identify their sensory processing differences.
How can we help women with autism?
The best way to help women with autism spectrum disorder is by listening to them, understanding them, and naming what they are experiencing. The difference between them and neurotypical individuals (without autism) lies in their unique processing of the social and sensory world, which shapes the experience of women with autism. These women are characterized by their honesty and sincerity, their ethical and moral commitment, and their strong sense of justice.
Raquel Montllor Linares
From the scientific community, it is important that we work on deconstructing androcentric biases in health and advocate for the training of health professionals with a gender perspective, adapting our interventions to the needs of girls and women with autism.
From society as a whole, we must continue to generate educational and employment support so that these girls and women can have a fuller and fairer life.
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