For the Autistic girls.

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1) What does your autism look like? How do you think your diagnosis differs from the male experience?

Based on one person who was honest with me, he said that in group discussions I am somewhat disconnected, poorly follow conversation, fail to insert a timely and appropriate comment, and my reactions are delayed. My facial expressions also betray that I am partially disconnected and have some other thoughts in my head, that are unrelated to what the group is discussing.
These things are less true in 1:1 conversations. Many people that had personal chats with me, said I was "deep". Or ar least "interesting".
Also one person said that I was "afraid of people".
(All that was 10-15 years ago)

My guess is that my autism differs from the male one by the huge amount of effort to blend-in and masking. There was a TED video about camouflaging in girls and that was the first time when I saw a woman who I related to, for the first time in my life.

2)How common do you think autism in girls? What makes you think this?

I dont know and I cannot know. Even that girl from the TED talk - I wouldn't have guessed that she was autistic. And only now, knowing so much more about autism, I suspect that my mother is also autistic, and not just "unsocial" like her friends and family say. She lacks this ability to say the right thing at the right time, and keeps following me when I give cues that I want to be alone, or suddenly disappears when I think we are doing something together. She also has no ability to show emotional support, to behave like an adult, or to do things the way we agreed to do. I recognize all of that now because I learned all these social and executive skills at work and group therapy sessions. She did not have this opportunity in her life.

3) Is it fair to say that females with autism are underdiagnosed because autism is increasingly difficult to identify in females because autistic women are extremely resourceful and may be able to adapt and camouflage their condition in order to fit into society?

Not sure. I think my autism or at least some kind of condition could have been seen clearly before the age of 10, if it wasn't 80s. I was alone, girls were ignoring me, only some lonely boys played with me, and I had weird behaviors and obsessions, like looking at the pavement when walking, counting tiles, avoiding to step on gaps between tiles, trying to walk on the left side of the pavement, stepping on stones with the middle of my left foot... So much attention was directed downwards and not to the world around me.
At later age, attention shifted to other kids, and I was watching social situations from a distance, unable to join them because other kids would just walk off and leave me behind, and would not respond to my invitations to play, or quickly find my games uninteresting. Only towards late teenage years, with the help of some online friends, I learned how to talk to other people and be interesting.

But until then - I think it should have been pretty obvious.

4) Does a delayed diagnosis for females with autism limit their ability to meet their full potential?

I believe so.

5)What advice would you offer to parents and professionals on how they can help autistic women achieve their full potential in life?

To help learn socialize in early age, when it is easier. To explain that nothing is wrong with her, she is just different. To point out some successful autistic women (and men) who did well in their later life. To show emotional support and teach how to show it in return.

Very important - to find out what does she love to do and who she would like to become, and help organize the right kind of courses/schools etc, because she may not be able to get what she wants all by herself.

My passion, that could have become a profession, was totally missed by my parents and everyone else. And later it was too late. I do not wish this to anyone, autistic or not.

1) What does your autism look like? How do you think your diagnosis differs from the male experience?
I find it difficult to make friends, I don’t understand feelings at all, I struggle with social situations (especially small talk), I notice patterns (a little obsessed with car registration plates), I like routine and get very upset if someone changes it, I can’t give eye contact. I think that all diagnoses are slightly different because everyone has different autistic traits. I do think that males are diagnosed quicker than girls because girls mask it.

2)How common do you think autism in girls? What makes you think this?

I think autism in girls is as common as it is in boys, I just think that it takes longer to diagnose girls. That’s just my opinion though. I’m 16 and was diagnosed fairly recently and that’s because I have learnt to mask my autistic traits in order to try and fit in with the majority of society. for example, I have struggled with eye contact forever and I developed a technique, so I pick somewhere in between the eyes and I look there instead of someone’s eyes and literally no one notices.

3)Is it fair to say that females with autism are underdiagnosed because autism is increasingly difficult to identify in females because autistic women are extremely resourceful and may be able to adapt and camouflage their condition in order to fit into society?

Yeah definitely.

4)Does a delayed diagnosis for females with autism limit their ability to meet their full potential?

I don’t know whether you would class being 16 and diagnosed as a delayed diagnosis however I do. I feel like I have wasted 16 years of my life trying to fit in when I wasn’t supposed to. There is a whole community of people who I actually relate to, and I don’t have to try and pretend to be someone different. I can’t speak for anyone else however I feel relieved that I finally got a diagnosis and I do think that a delayed diagnosis limited my ability to meet my full potential because so much of my energy went into trying to fit in with other people who aren’t like me.

5)What advice would you offer to parents and professionals on how they can help autistic women achieve their full potential in life?

I have always mainly struggled with social situations and therefore I would advise that parents and professionals expose autistic women to social situations as soon as possible. Also, if parents have a friend who is autistic, I suggest that they meet because I felt so alone for so long and now that I know autistic people, I realise that I have never been alone, I just hadn’t met the people who understood me most.

Hello, here are my answers if you still need more data. If not, I hope it might still be useful to others.