Gender in Autistic Late-Diagnosis Narratives

In recent years, the discussion of how gender impacts autism diagnosis has been popular in both academic and lay contexts, such as social media. In psychology, the idea of the Female Autism Phenotype has particularly caught the attention of researchers as a possible explanation for why autistic women and girls are diagnosed later. However, studies related to gender and late autism diagnosis often do not consider how autistic adults personally perceive this link. Using thematic analysis, this study analyzes the blogs of late-diagnosed autistic adults to understand whether and how these individuals perceive a link between their gender and their timing of diagnosis. Critical discourse analysis is also used to understand how understandings of autism, group affiliations, and other factors may influence these perceptions. The study found that while the Female Autism Phenotype and similar theories have been favoured by bloggers in years past, they have not been regularly discussed by late-diagnosed bloggers in recent years. This indicates that autism researchers who focus on gender’s role in late-diagnosis may not be in line with autistic community priorities regarding autism research.