Nick Stone, Autism Hub peer support facilitator & ALAG member, 2 March 2022

The latest ALAG Autism Hub evening event was an informative discussion on autism and women – covering a breath for issues from diagnosis to stereotypes. The introduction set the topic discussion – that men are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than women.

Well attended – with over 60 people – the audience listened to different and complimentary presentations. The first offered an optimistic outlook. A future were improved understanding and diagnosis techniques reduce the divergent autism rates between the genders. The second presentation questioned masking, instead with the emphasis on women and social communications skills.

Comments from the audience provided further context and exploration – including possible institutional sexism, gender stereotypes and misdiagnosis. As the event moderator, I was heartened by the optimism, informed by numerous personal experiences and impressed with though behind each contribution.

It was noted that despite more males being diagnosed, by contrast most autism researchers are female.