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http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10803-016-2872-8&domain=pdf
Web End = J Autism Dev Disord (2016) 46:32813294 DOI 10.1007/s10803-016-2872-8
http://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog/?doi=10.1007/s10803-016-2872-8&domain=pdf
Web End = ORIGINAL PAPER
The Experiences of Late-diagnosed Women with Autism Spectrum Conditions: An Investigation of the Female Autism Phenotype
Sarah Bargiela1 Robyn Steward2 William Mandy1
Published online: 25 July 2016 The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract We used Framework Analysis to investigate the female autism phenotype and its impact upon the under-recognition of autism spectrum conditions (ASC) in girls and women. Fourteen women with ASC (aged 2230 years) diagnosed in late adolescence or adulthood gave in-depth accounts of: pretending to be normal; of how their gender led various professionals to miss their ASC; and of conicts between ASC and a traditional feminine identity. Experiences of sexual abuse were widespread in this sample, partially reecting specic vulnerabilities from being a female with undiagnosed ASC. Training would improve teachers and clinicians recognition of ASC in females, so that timely identication can mitigate risks and promote wellbeing of girls and women on the autism spectrum.
Keywords Autism spectrum conditions (ASC) Autism
spectrum disorder (ASD) Diagnosis Female autism
phenotype
Introduction
Autism spectrum condition (ASC), also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD)1 is a neurodevelopmental syndrome characterised by difculties with social reciprocity,
social communication, exibility and sensory processing (American Psychiatric Association [APA] 2013). People with ASC are at risk of a range of emotional, behavioural, social, occupational and economic difculties (e.g., Howlin and Moss 2012) . The timely identication of ASC can mitigate some of these risks and improve quality of life, for example by identifying needs and appropriate interventions, increasing access to services, making others less judgemental of the person with ASC and their parents, reducing self-criticism, and helping to foster a positive sense of identity (Hurlbutt and Charmers 2002; Portway and Johnson 2005; Ruiz Calzada et al. 2012; Russell and Norwich 2012; Wong et al., 2015).
Compared to males, females are at substantially elevated risk of their ASC going undiagnosed: their difculties are frequently mislabelled or missed entirely (Lai and Baron-Cohen 2015). This is shown by the observation that in non-referred samples there are between two and three males for each female with ASC (e.g., Constantino et al. 2010; Kim et al. 2011; Zwaigenbaum et al....