Thursday, Sep 18, 2008 6:55 PM UTC
Misdiagnosing gender
Symptoms of autism in girls may be masked by our views of femininity, say experts.
In this week’s clip for Current TV, I talk about a study finding that autism presents itself differently in girls than in boys and, most interesting, that some girls’ symptoms may go unnoticed because of our views of femininity. One expert, the National Autistic Society’s Judith Gould, told the BBC: “The way autism is presented in women can be very complex and so can be missed. It might be that due to misconceptions and stereotypes, many girls and women with autism are never referred for diagnosis, and so are missing from statistics.”
Tracy Clark-Flory is a staff writer at Salon. Follow @tracyclarkflory on Twitter. More Tracy Clark-Flory.
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