Many girls with autism prefer to spend time alone, rather than engage in social activities. This could be due to social awkwardness, poor communication skills, or a lack of shared interests. Girls with autism may find it difficult to make friends with other people. They may also have a difficult time understanding what others are saying to them. Girls with autism may have difficulty communicating with others, both verbally and non-verbally. This can be due to a lack of interest in socializing, or difficulties with sensory processing. But Annette and Chloe will continue to fight for acceptance where they can, but this is a personal choice – not everyone understands what it means to be Autistic, and public understanding and acceptance is an ongoing project.Girls with autism may not make as much eye contact as typically developing girls. Ultimately, you need to protect yourself, and many of us (Chloe and Annette included) don’t always have positive experiences with others when we disclose that we are Autistic. We will always advocate for you to be your authentic Autistic self, but we caution you to think about who you wish to disclose to, and who you can be yourself around. However, once you’ve achieved a certain level of self-awareness, things become a little bit more easy afterwards.” – THE ASIAN ASPERGIRL Self-awareness allows you to be more yourself than ever before, although it takes some time to actually achieve. “Self-awareness impacts masking on a fundamental and deep level, because being aware about yourself, your strengths and limitations allows you to create strategies that you can use, instead of masking and mimicking a neurotypicals behavior. We at SYA? do hope that we can help you accept the wonderful Autistic person you are, and perhaps help you with a safe space where you don’t need to mask – where you can be your Autistic self, no judgements. You may feel anger at the fact that you were missed for so long, that nobody else realised you were Autistic and struggling with sensory and social experiences.You may re-evaluate your life with this new knowledge – “ahhh, that’s why I did/do that!”.You may feel relief and understanding that your “weirdness” is not weird at all, at that there are many people who share similar experiences.Once you are aware of and accepting of being Autistic (diagnosed or not), you will experience a number of feelings and thoughts about this new discovery (see The Autistic Advocate for a more detailed blog on diagnosis, but please note they are quite angry as they cannot access decent support services such as SYA? etc.). specialist mentors, study skills tutors, specialist equipment, hard- and soft-ware, etc.) Once diagnosed you can access independent disability needs assessors (such as IONA) who will lobby on your behalf to get support while you study (e.g. This is more the case as a student, but unfortunately support in the community is less forthcoming. Having a diagnosis can help you access services and support you may not have had already. Do remember, however, that the wait can be long as the university can only put through a finite number of students for assessment per year. However, bear in mind you may also find it difficult to get a referral, or if assessed get a diagnosis, if the people who refer and assess you are not used to seeing women, non-binary, trans persons, queer persons, or men who present with a more internal (less observable) Autistic presentation.Īt the University of Kent we are lucky as the support and assessment services are used to seeing non-typical (“classic male”) presentations of Autistic experience. It may help you feel validated because “you definitely are Autistic” if you have a diagnosis. The decision to seek a diagnosis is a personal choice. *********** Why seek a diagnosis? Pros and Cons Remember that none of these checklists are a substitute for professional assessment, and they also do not determine whether you are Autistic or not – only your feelings and experiences can truly determine that you are Autistic. Please note that both the official tests are biased toward the concept of male autism, and created by non-autistics, and so ask questions more about externally observable behaviour than internal states (the latter is more common for Autistics with a tendency toward an internal phenotype, which includes women, non-binary, trans persons, and men).
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