A Small In-Depth Study of Late Diagnosed Women

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The abstract: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27457364

Is anyone able to post a full link here? The Springer link is only available to their members, and this study sounds as if it will be very interesting to the late diagnosed women here (and others).

The study confirmed a longstanding perception mentioned by some AS women: that the population of AS women are more often targeted by sexual exploitaters and abusers during the early decades of life. I think this is a factual finding, and the relative silence of about this factor at these vulnerable stages really is the elephant in the room. The research failure to address it in comprehensive ways is a very concerning omission. Researchers know that sexual assault is a predictor factor for increased rates of suicide, and they know that suicide rates are unduly high in AS populations. It doesn't require much of an imaginative leap...

I suspect that a well designed study would find that sexual victimisation is similarly more common in populations of AS men and the relative incidences would be useful information as basic research to assist the development of applied research and support initiatives.

IMO it is well past time that the research community got real about this, and reconsidered it as a powerful contributing source variable in the higher rates of anxiety, depression and PTSD already identified in the AS population.

We are now well into the 21st century, and it is strange to me that there is hardly any research interest in joining these dots; the investigations in NT populations began 50 years ago and have continued ever since. Except for outlier studies like this one, AS people have been very notably ignored, as have other groups who are not normative. It's really a very shocking and perhaps callous oversight.

I am curious to know: out of the thousands of conferences on AS which have taken place over the last 50 years, addressing factors in well-being and impacts on that, does anyone know of a single presentation on this? Has there even been one? It will be a relief and a surprise to me if there has been. (And has Autism Dollar Speaks ever used any of the vast megamillions it has solicited from the public to address this?)

I feel, through activism, that there will be more of these sorts of studies in the future.

It would be nice if there were more longitudinal studies, actually. Asperger's is at 30 years old now (even though Asperger's paper came out 73 years ago). Autism is at least 74 years old now.

This is relevant:

http://dsq-sds.org/article/view/1058/1228

Yep....it's relevant.

Spectrum Children just don't know the signs that somebody is going to sexually abuse them.

When I was 13, some kid wanted to do an "experiment" using my penis. I believed him.

Thank you for sharing that. I am sorry that you were targeted.

I'm not a Springer member and was able to click on the Springer link and download a PDF.



If you're curious, you should do an online search.

I did. I couldn't find a single conference paper.

As you observed, the particular article cited in the opening post is available via the Springer link. Thanks for pointing that out Dr Pepper. Now I will read the whole thing.

It was very disquieting to read that 75% of subjects in this qualitative study reported that they had been victims of sexual assault. I really shudder at the thought that this could be accurate, as it may be; though I hope it is not. Further studies are needed.

It also strikes me that there is a PhD waiting for someone, which could involve the evaluation of 3 factors:

1) to what extend a general public sample believes myths about AS
2) which myths they predominantly believe
3) the impact of those false beliefs on the quality of life of AS people

Of course PhD dissertations have to be work that has not been done before, and I am unaware of any previous work that has addressed the interaction of those factors in a comprehensive way with academic rigour.

I was a victim. I lacked the foresight as a young person with undiagnosed and unsupported autism to see the signs that a trusted person was going to abuse me.

I think loneliness, also, leads people to "trust" people they wouldn't otherwise trust.

I know that was true for me.

Yeah, me too. At that age I was so desperate for a friend, I didn't consider the possibility of there being ulterior motives.

I was really oblivious to people's motives when I was much younger.

But then, through some hard experiences, I got better around the time I turned 21.

The bummer is: why must one have to go through hard things to learn stuff?

Young people, being young, don't have enough life experience to see the signs, and the different developmental curve for AS people, diagnosed or not, does put them at extra risk. It was never your fault at all: of course you "lacked foresight"; foresight is a function of adult maturity; please don't blame yourself in any way, not even the tiniest way. It was not your fault.

Abusers are exploiters, manipulators, planners. The fault for their criminal plans and actions is 100% theirs and only theirs. Many victims do blame themselves for something they did, or just for being there. Regret is understandable, but blaming yourself is completely unwarranted. You knew what you knew, you didn't know what you didn't know. I am very sorry that this happened to you; it makes me want to believe in karma.

Thanks B19. There is definitely still a sense of guilt, but I've mostly moved on to a happier time in my life.

The simple fact is: You did nothing wrong. The abuser was in the wrong, totally.

Logically, I know that's true. I've always been prone to feelings of guilt though. I don't really know why.