Lack of diagnosis of Black women b/c of stereotype?

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(Tried to attach this to another post, but no responses. Figured I may as well make it it's own topic)

This could be applied to all people of color I think, but since women in general are often un-diagnosed, I'm particularly curious as to what other women of color on the spectrum think about this. As of now I'm self-diagnosed (seeking dx), and have been doing tons of research on AS. When I would search for information regarding African Americans in general (not just women) and AS, very little popped up. I spend most of my time thinking about things over and over again (as I'm sure alot of you do too), and I started connecting some of my Asperger issues with my race-related issues I've had since I was a kid. Many of you posted about dating/marrying outside your race in part due issues you've had our own, so I assumed perhaps we may share other experiences of that nature and maybe someone else has had the same thoughts.

When I began to identify some of my symptoms, such as:
-moodiness (attitude)
-stubbornness
-low motivation (laziness)
-trouble with authority (parents, teachers)
-ignorance: by this, I mean a general social ignorance (not knowing about things that most of your peers are privied to because of lack of social interaction), or seeming to lack common sense, which can be misconstrued as cultural ignorance and/or lack of education in some instances.

...it made me think of how many people (including blacks) attribute those characteristics to most black kids because of racism and stereotyping. That they behave that way because of how they were raised or because it's inherent in black culture. Aside from the symptoms I listed, I don't remember showing any unique AS characteristics. I was fairly social and didn't have an extremely hard time making friends (I was pretty shy & awkward at first, but opened up once i felt more comfortable, although I HATE being forced to socialize. this isn't to say I was never teased), I did averagely well in school, I didn't have any noticeable stims to my knowledge, until maybe around junior high when I developed a tick that seemed to be stress induced. When I asked my mother if she noticed anything strange about me, she said no, but that I started reading and talking early (which is sometimes a sign).

I started noticing my issues more as I got older, and my relationship with my mother and others was so unbelievably bad that there had to be something wrong, but of course I had no idea that AS existed. I even briefly saw a therapist when I was around 11 or 12 because my mom thought my attitude had gotten out of control, but we stopped going I think due to financial issues and/or lack of insurance so nothing ever came of it. I got depressed alot as a teenager (still do) and it was easy to blame my problems on my parents and the way i grew up because it honestly was mostly a negative experience as far as I'm concerned, but I wonder if most people have those same assumptions and it prevents what could be a very meaningful diagnosis for some people?

I'm sorry if this post seems a little incomplete, but it's been on my mind and I just wanted to get the idea out there to see if anyone else had the same thought. There doesn't seem to be much discussion of this nature on the forum. Thanks for your replies.

I think that mental illness as a whole in the black community is not a top priority. With gangs, teen pregnancy and equal opportunity as a whole this is really not on the top of our communities things to deal with, but maybe if we tried to put more of an focus on the mental health of self maybe then a lot of the things that we as a people fall victim to will not be so high. Over thinking things is one of the many things that I too suffer from, but looking back I had a lot of different symptoms. So, do I think it's because of a stereotype nope just lack of knowledge that more then a beaten is needed to solve the problem.

Man, those correlations seem reasonable and that sucks!

Women of color may be under diagnosed because of many variables such as their socioeconomic status, accessibility to health care, perceived stigma attached to visiting a mental health care clinic, lack of access to mental health care information in general, etc etc. But then these variables can also apply to other race/ethnicities as well.

You know, I never thought about it until reading your post.. but now that I do think about it..

My Asperger's caused a lot of unusual behavioral problems from a very young age, and I am a biracial girl. I remember a racist family member attributing my behavior to me being black. She actually pleaded with my mother to stop physically disciplining me so much, because she said I couldn't help it, I was "like them."

My first experience with a child psychologist (who did not detect my Asperger's, maybe due to the fact that I refused to speak to her during our sessions), was one I was forced to go see by the school when I was 8. The teacher who had said I had "a problem" was quite racist. I'm sure she never thought my problem could be Asperger's.. but then again, nobody did. I didn't hear about it until I was 27, when my son was tested & diagnosed at a children's hospital.