It simply never occurred to people that autism might 'look' different in e.g. females, BAME communities, older people, males who don't present in typically male ways, etc./
How many people know they're autistic, so far.
These are the studies from various countries and teams.
England & Scotland data taken from the official school records.
The problem is, not everyone knows they're autistic.
The tests & assessments tend to find white males/
It simply never occurred to people that autism might 'look' different in e.g. females, BAME communities, older people, males who don't present in typically male ways, etc./
Why do I suspect this? From conversation with diagnostic professionals who are updating their info and having 'oh heck!' moments.
From parents struggling to get their daughters diagnosed, whereas the son was easy/
And so many with identical presentations who are still struggling to get diagnosed/
It's simply a reality that the tools they were given were designed to pick white men.
Let's look at some examples:/
This can be cultural. It might be immensely rude to look an adult in the eye, in some cultures.
What about their hobbies? Oh she plays with dolls? Great.
Oh, he plays with toy trains? Autism!
Even though the 50 dolls are lined up/
Are they a male that shows sudden changes in mood/angry anxiety? Autism!
Repeating, many diagnostic teams are good.../
So, when I see prevalence statistics saying it's 4:1 boys/
I think it's far closer.
Colleagues from BAME communities talk of societal and cultural barriers to even thinking about getting a child diagnosed, also/
