Is autism a feminist issue?

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Do you think that it's more difficult to get a diagnosis of an ASD if you're a woman? I notice that with the therapist I'm seeing now, I keep getting called every other thing but aspie even though he recognizes that I have it, says that I have it, and so on. On the reports, it says I'm seeing him for x or y or z, not that I'm autistic.

What have you come up against in your own dealings with therapists/the world?

the therapist I had waved his hand dismissively when I brought up the Autism element to my diagnosis. He waved it away and said we were going to work on my Anxiety. I asked him "so, I am going to be the least anxious of all the other bag ladies living on the streets, then?" and he said 'well, yes, I suppose so.

Just because a therapist doesn't know anything about autism probably doesn't mean it is a gender thing. Just a lack in his schooling/research, etc.

Merle

Interesting. I had one (actually, not a psychologist, this was a social worker... so I wouldn't have the gall to call her a therapist) flat out tell me she knew very little about autism.

I... I don't see how you can even enter this profession or stay in it if you don't know about it. This isn't the 80s.

I think it is. I think patriarchal standards of how a woman is supposed to behave and present herself greatly affect women on the spectrum, because we don't fit the typical mold of behavior. This is also true for men on the spectrum who may not conform to the image of the strong macho man that is expected of them. Getting a proper diagnosis is important too, and is oft-ignored by people who don't know how to recognize AS in women.
Also, getting insurance companies to properly insure children on the spectrum so that their parents aren't drained emotionally and financially is a feminist issue.

I haven't sought a diagnosis--no point, I've lived with it for 60 years--but have had a therapist agree that I "very likely" have Asperger's. This was after several sessions for a family issue. She admitted that she didn't know a great deal about it, but said I had many classic traits as she understood them.

Yes I think it is in several ways

- the diagnosis rate for men to women with AS is 10:1, however from what I've read the actual rate of people having it is 4:1 so I think its more difficult to get a diagnosis because the different ways it appears in women is less recognised, as well as because of the stereotype of it as a male condition.

- the expectations on us in society as women (eg that we are more social, empathetic, good at multitasking etc than men) can mean that having aspergers affects us differently than it affects men.

- Being a 'minority within a minority' can mean women end up being the only one or two women in the group when meeting other people with AS

^ Emilyh said it better than I could

agreed.

They don't have to renew there license?