Attitudes 100 years since women's suffrage

[curl-6]

Jaicee said:

curl-6 said:

Not being a woman myself, my ability to comment on their wellbeing is limited to what I hear from me female friends, colleagues, and family, and what I observe for myself, which will obviously constitute a mere sliver of the lived experience of being female here.

In my area, (autism advocacy) one big problem faced by women is that females on the spectrum are much less likely to get diagnosed than their male counterparts, or to get diagnosed at a later age, due to the difference in how the condition presents itself in women versus men.

This leads to autistic women having to endure more confusion, psychological distress, and misdiagnosis with other conditions; one of my ex girlfriends was misdiagnosed with bipolar and schizophrenia before they finally worked out in her 20s that she was just autistic.

Due to men being more widely diagnosed than women, my field is also highly male-dominated at present, though thankfully this is starting to change as I am seeing a generation of autistic women my age and younger who are joining the advocacy movement pushing for greater awareness and acceptance of autistic women. It's an exciting and encouraging change to watch.

I've found this to be easily the most interesting reply so far because I actually learned something from it! Don't have much to add to it as someone who isn't on the autism spectrum myself, but just wanted to formally thank you for posting it.

Thank you, you're most welcome.

It's pretty much just the field where I have the most knowledge of women's experience due to it being my area, (both in terms of my occupation and my neurology) and the fact that through both work and friends it's an issue I frequently come into contact with and have received a great deal of education about.

As a result, for a lot of the women I know that's been one aspect of inequality that has significantly affected their lives; for most of them, getting a diagnosis was a moment of great clarity and validation that really helped them to understand and accept themselves, but it was something a lot of them didn't get until they were adults, whereas most males I know on the spectrum were diagnosed in childhood.

This also leads to women lacking access to support services compared to men, which can have a considerable impact on one's quality of life.

Like I say though, there's a wave of positive change currently in progress, spearheaded by some truly amazing autistic women, several of whom I have the privilege of having worked alongside.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 01 September 2020