Hello,
I wanted to share this list I learnt about by scrolling Reddit.
The author of this list, Samantha Craft, from The Art of Autism website, has created a list of features Autistic women may feel identified with.
It seems Samantha has shared this list for other Asperger women to see if they relate to these traits and comment about the features they may have in common.
There are a total of around 8-10 sections focusing on different areas of life, like personality, inner world, socialization, sensitivity, executive disfunction…
I will share my thoughts in the comment section to keep the original post ‘neutral’ enough.
Have a good day.
EDIT2: i will change the original title in the blog post from “Females with Autism” to “Autism in Women”.
Hello, I apologize for not realizing about the problems around the use of the term ‘female’, thanks for explaining.
Yesterday, I just learnt about Feminine autism after a neuropsychologist mentioned it to me. He said ‘feminine’, because of the gender-cultured reasons contributing to underdiagnosis in women and LGBTIQ individuals too.
That’s the reason I am doing my best to understand by reading in communities as r/AutismInWomen, and noticing the need for safe spaces due to issues with the male autistic community.
Still, I just would like to note that some individuals new to minority-based communities may be new to the language on itself and have this double struggle with social interactions leading to “double exclusion” in certain situations, e.g. in the LGBTIQ+ community.
I promise my intentions are not bad, but I can struggle for hours to communicate a simple idea effectively and still do an epic fail. Sorry.
Again, honestly, please don’t apologise. It was very clear there were no ill intended undertones in your use of the word in the post and I shouldn’t have been so flippant, especially with no context, in my initial comment. You did nothing wrong. Please don’t let this interaction in any way make you less likely to contribute in the future.
Language is a tricky, flexible thing, and everyone is going to have their own slightly different view of the meanings and subtext of words and phrases.
Female can of course be an acceptable term. It’s my own baggage of being so online that made it become a personal flag where I automatically question author intent.
Oh, I would like to clarify I could see from the very beginning that the intention behind your message was ensuring this community was a safe space for people who had to escape from harmful ideologies.
I feel ashamed of existing and I struggle with socializing because of past experiences, not your messages. In the first message, you were trying to defend others. In the second message, you told me the problem behind the word.
However, due to my difficulties fitting in and experiencing breakdowns everytime I try socializing, I have to accept once again that it’s best for me to step back.
Again, it’s nobody’s fault. Thank you all and have a good weekend.
You have no less right to exist than anyone else. Socializing is tough and breakdowns are the worst. Try not to beat yourself up about that. If you feel you need to step back then do so but I hope you won’t be away too long.
Remember, people sometimes comment without giving a second thought (see above lol, sorry) so try to give them equally little thought when they trouble you.
Edit: also, I was browsing all and thought this was the general autism community when initially commenting, otherwise I wouldn’t have said anything, sorry