The difference that being female makes to the diagnosis, life and experiences of a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has largely gone unresearched and unreported until recently. In this book Sarah Hendrickx has collected both academic research and personal stories about girls and women on the autism spectrum to present a picture of their feelings, thoughts and experiences at each stage of their lives.
Outlining how autism presents differently and can hide itself in females and what the likely impact will be for them throughout their lifespan, the book looks at how females with ASD experience diagnosis, childhood, education, adolescence, friendships, sexuality, employment, pregnancy and parenting, and aging. It will provide invaluable guidance for the professionals who support these girls and women and it will offer women with autism a guiding light in interpreting and understanding their own life experiences through the experiences of others.
I thought this book very interesting and informative, and I think it would be helpful for autistic women*, parents of autistic daughters, and medical professionals and therapists, etc. I found the personal stories very interesting, and I think they would be helpful for anyone on the autistic spectrum. Social skills have never been my strong suit, so I identified with some of the stories and things the girls and women struggled with. The research was also interesting, but many of the studies were done with few girls, so it's hard to make an impact in autism research that way. More studies with autistic girls and women need to be done. Medical professionals and therapists especially should be educated more; there were stories of dismissive doctors etc. that made my blood boil. It wouldn't hurt if early childhood educators were educated on developmental disorders as well.
Overall, I liked this book and found it helpful, although I would have liked to see some questionnaires in the back of the book or something to help readers gauge if they or a loved one/patient might be autistic. Recommended.
*usually with disabilities you're supposed to use people-first language (e.g. 'people with disabilities' rather than 'disabled people'), but I read that many autistic people prefer to be called 'autistic people' because it's part of their identity. I'm a bit fuzzy on the details so lmk if I'm wrong.
Score: 4 out of 5 stars
Read in: late April to early-mid May
From: Link+, my library
Format: paperback
Status: returned
Read in: late April to early-mid May
From: Link+, my library
Format: paperback
Status: returned
