Trans people being diagnosed

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I've had a lot of experiences of my trans/intersex status being bought up and focussed on in medical situations, for instance recently I went to be tested for allergies, and spent most of the appointment detailing my history of seeing psychiatrists and my operations rather than talking about anaphylaxis. Has anyone else experienced the same when being diagnosed with AS? I'm pretty well versed in the "this conversation has now moved beyond what is necessary for you to ask" speech, but I'm worried about it becoming the focus of the appointment when it's largely irrelevant.

Gender Dysphoria is believed to be higher with Aspies than NT's. Once read something that AS might be the "cause" of GID because of the social limitations and general frustrations.

Yeah, anecdotally I've definitely noticed a raised incidence of autistic-style behaviour in trans people. I don't know of any studies but I think it's quite a widespread belief.

According to the author of "Aspergirls"...feeling as if we are both male and female is a female autistic trait. I actually thought I was just the weirdest woman on the planet for feeling both male and female until I discovered that it is a female aspie trait.

Actually after reading Rudy Simone's book, I realized that I am less unique than I thought...in fact I am walking talking diagnosis.

Jojo

Wow, I havn't done that much research so far and to hear of this makes me smile. I was always so confused about the way I felt. Like I was supost to be born with both sets of gentals or something. Its takes away alot of stress to know that it is a trait with other Aspie Girls.

-To the creator of this thread. Every time they ask something that is not revelant to the matter at hand just ask a question that brings them back to the subject and away from uncomfortable or irrevalent subjects.

As to the poster who said females with AS can feel like they are both male and female, that's interesting.

I was born female, but transitioned to male 2 years ago. Even now sometimes I wonder if I'm both female and male because I haven't lost touch with my feminine roots. I prefer to be seen as a guy though, and really don't want to be seen as a girl at all.

This describes my situation as well. I am also post-transition but comfortable with the aspects of me which are female/feminine. I have no desire for genital surgery because I am quite comfortable with my genitals as they are, though I do "feel" male and need to be able to interact with others as a man to be comfortable.

I have to say I am rather concerned about the OP's concern as well. I am over my GID - I transitioned seven years ago and it fixed my gender dysphoria as completely as I could have wished for - and don't see it as relevant to the things I am experiencing now, but it is such a huge thing to most health professionals I come across that I suspect upon seeking help with my suspected AS they are going to be asking a whole heck of a lot of questions about it.

Why hasn't there been more studies on the correlation between the autism spectrum and gender nonconformity?

Such a tiny population to test I guess.

Kat Stork-Brett &co. are doing one at the University of Queensland - they posted some preliminary stuff fairly recently, I'm waiting for their final report thingy with interest.

I'd suspect its a difficult study to do. You ask people what their gender or sexual preference is, and the ones who respond are likely to respond with the social norm... those who don't want to be "out" won't respond, or will respond with the social norm as well.

How do you really get a true random sample in this case? I ask that question seriously - for anyone in Psych, how would you design a experiment?

You've just described me so well it almost scary.

I'm going the other direction, male to female. I have AS (diagnosed).

I don't feel as if I'm both genders - I just feel female. Despite that, I seem to have some male personality traits. I wish I didn't, though.

Finding out that I have AS helped me make peace with being extremely feminine. Now I have no shame in keeping long hair and nails, being very small and fragile; basically having a male yet feminine appearance. I never wanted to be a girl, I'm just feminine. Doctors have often said that I am likely intersex but I have not looked into it because I despise labels. It would explain many things about my body, but I just want to be MYSELF.

Society does all of us a disservice by making checklists of traits for "man" and "woman" and then making everyone choose a gender. I wish that, when I was younger, I would have had a better understanding of gender and not allowed society to make me feel like a freak.

ooo, sounds interesting.

I'm queer and I think I have a hell of a lot of the typical "female aspie" coping mechanisms that I keep hearing about. I'm trying to focus more on getting a decent job and being financially independent and stuff before I worry about trans anything right now (kinda a moot point when you're broke and living with homophobic parents) but I've always felt strongly that I would be happier as a woman. I think the fact that I have all those female-typical coping mechanisms makes my ASD seem "milder" than it might otherwise be, and may well have contributed to my not being diagnosed until age 24.

I'm trans, I have that problem with doctors. So many are far to distracted by my trans status that they make mistakes on my medical records and such... It's really a hassle.