Link between autism and gender dysphoria

[mids2019]

Anecdotally at my children's school there seems to be a few autistic children that have really entrenched views of the trans rights groups being correct and everyone having the right to self ID.

Could it be that gender dysphoria has a connection to neuro divergence? In a sense maybe the desire to change sex is a result of feeling socially isolated coupled with a desperation that changing sex would be an answer to the symptoms of autism?

It seems to me if gender dysphoria was treated from a neurological/psychological perspective there may be some positive outcomes. It could be that for instant the child simply has same sex attraction and therapy could help decouple the sexual attraction from feeling of being the wrong sex.

The problem currently with an affirmation only model is that vulnerable children are being pushed down a certain path without any psychological evaluation.

A social outcast joins a sacred cast … Swift punishment is doled out to anyone who fails to use the prescribed language or who bully them… “Allies” will rally round the bullied transboy, turning on the terf…
I’m autistic. Nobody gave a shit about me being bullied for years on end. Teachers, other pupils, police, nobody was bothered what happened to me. Nobody cared about me being isolated and excluded. But if I could have said I was trans and it would result not only in the bullying stopping, but in allies rallying round me wanting to be my friends and calling the bullies terfs - yes I would have grabbed that opportunity with both hands.

Friends and friendships are often a big struggle for ND girls and women. I'm ND and want and like having friends, I was very lonely as a child and teenager. I didn't fit in with anyone or anything. My obsessions were weird and I was an easy target for men. I would have latched onto gender woo like a barnacle on a whale.
Of course Gender woo works on another level for the government. They can no longer institutionalise or medicate or misdiagnose women and girls who are autistic. If they actually correctly diagnosed us they would have to offer supports. Gender woo absolves them of this and keeps the stats for Autism low.

Going back to what PurpleBugz said: “Research into autism is in boys. White boys. Girls are not the stereotype of autism because we are not boys.”

I was diagnosed with autism because I gave birth to a white boy who has autism. When I said “his behaviour is not abnormal because I do all of those things myself”, that’s when I was referred for an autism diagnosis. But nobody cared when I (as a young girl) exhibited those exact same symptoms. I was told to get over it and stop being ridiculous.

Thank you @PurpleBugz and @Speermint. You know when you just get a feeling when you read symptoms in high functioning girls and things fall into place a little.

@Speermint

I was misdiagnosed with mental health stuff I don't have. Girls have things wrong with them that they have to fix about themselves, things to feel embarrassed or ashamed of their weaknesses etc. everyone else can manage this get over it try harder etc etc. a similar attitude is directed at my daughter she's seen as just anxious and being forced to fight through it by school.

My experience as mother of a boy. While he's certainly not got the supports and things he needs no one expects him to just get over it it's not his fault at all and everyone around him should be changing and adapting and supporting his needs. Including all his female autistic family members. Because he is disruptive and gets violent if he struggles to manage his emotions. Lots of talk about supporting him to manage his emotions better but in practice it that's all me doing that the system is supporting him with accommodations. But as I said my daughter gets 'support' to suppress her emotions and no accommodations.

It obvious to me why autistic girls don't want to be girls. They have it worse than boys in so many ways

Why would they have to offer support if diagnosed autistic? There’s no support at the minute for autism diagnosis it’s basically diagnose and discharge

If they actually correctly diagnosed us they would have to offer supports. Gender woo absolves them of this and keeps the stats for Autism low.

Given the cost of gender woo now and in the future in terms of ‘affirmation treatment’ (dangerous drugs and surgeries with 80%+ complication rates) it would be a lot cheaper to diagnose autism as they can then simply blame any mental health difficulties on autism and ignore it.

There isnt 'treatment' or intervention/support for people with ASD via the NHS or otherwise so its a red herring to say that its an either or thing, that either people would be diagnosed ASD or with gender dysphoria but not both, because what we are seeing is that people with ASD are being diagnosed or certainly self diagnosing with gender dysphoria

The bottom line is that most of the people with so called gender dysphoria are just very troubled young people, usually ASD who dont like themselves and dont feel comfortable with themselves and that is a MH/emotional welbeing issue

@bellac11

Does that mean there may be people with autism that aren't fully diagnosed as the gender dysphoria element will not be fully analysed? The question is will any meaningful psychological intervention for gender dysphoria be met with accusations of conversion therapy?

I do wonder that some with autism will be easily led to become the 'poster people' for transgender causes and be overwhelmed when faced with coherent GC arguments and this could lead to ultimately further isolation and loss of identity?

Thanks for starting the thread. I have two autistic boys.

DS1 is very intelligent and struggled a lot with female friends from primary declaring themselves boys in year 7 onwards.

We talk about it a lot at home and he is definitely gender critical and 'rigid' in his knowledge that you can't change sex, there are only two sexes and transgenderism is misogynistic and homophobic.

School have been broadly supportive and I believe the SenCo at school agrees with him just tries to get him to be a bit more discreet.

He goes to sixth form in September and I'm worried how he will cope there.

Imo the lack of support for ASD is exactly why young people latch onto another diagnosis which comes with more support. “You’re autistic - now fuck off, nobody cares”, vs “You’re trans - we will all rally round you as allies and be your friends and support you, and if anyone is mean to you not only will we protect you but even the police will get involved because it’s a hate crime”.

Imo the lack of support for ASD is exactly why young people latch onto another diagnosis which comes with more support. “You’re autistic - now fuck off, nobody cares”,

But there are support groups and organisations so the script is:

NHS: “You’re autistic, why don’t you contact this well meaning but totally unqualified group of activists?”

Activist group: “ welcome, do you feel comfortable with sex stereotypes attributed to your sex? Do you fit in well with everyone around you? If not that is because you are actually super duper special transgender. Transition and all your problems will be solved. Here is a flag to wave.”

Does anyone feel this gender woo is just a trend & it will pass? They will be the next generations "me too brigade" unfortunately..

Ultimately yes but how long and how much damage meantime? And what will replace it? It is a men’s rights movement so when the veneer fades where will women be?

@IWillNoLie absolutely agree with you.. And God only knows what's down the road... Is there any way of protecting our kids from indoctrination barr homeschooling & zero social media?
Like look at Innocent Smoothies ffs, the brainwashing is everywhere!

It feels so much like the emperors new clothes and one day the realisation will hit and people will wonder they were fooled or manipulated.

I don’t understand why the movement has grown such strength though, can you imagine treating someone with anorexia by telling them to stop eating?

“I don’t understand why the movement has grown such strength though, can you imagine treating someone with anorexia by telling them to stop eating?”

There is a lot of just eat, admittedly with more layers but at the core it’s just eat. There is also a significant correlation between eating disorders and autism. The standard treatments for eating disorders don’t work particularly well when autism is in the mix.

Girls who do not have additional learning difficulties or who are not problematic for those around them don’t tend to get assessed for autism. If their difficulties manifest in a way more often seen in boys such as violence - tick in the box happens.

I was diagnosed after one of my children was diagnosed. Now all of us (female) have ADHD and ASD NHS diagnosis. Convoluted path to get here which took more energy, fight and upskilling myself than anyone should have to bear.

What I meant was, a) there are lots of children (I work with children so am primarily commenting in this context) who arent diagnosed with ASD because they're on the waiting list/refuse to engage with assessment/CAMHS refuse to assess,,, but who present as 'trans'

and b) its not a case of you either get diagnosed with one or the other, either ASD or gender dysphoria (I hate that descriptor) so the argument that people are getting diagnosed with gender dysphoria rather than ASD is a red herring

The vast majority of children I work with who present as trans who are girls and who have a trauma/sexual abuse history and are ASD or suspected to be.

I think you have misunderstood the post

The analogy is that an internal feeling of dysphoria/dont like my body is treated differently when its an eating disorder compared to trans

So an eating disorder where the person feels fat, dont want to eat, dont need to eat, need to be in control of what I put in my mouth to feel better - that is not 'treated' by telling the person to stop eating and that yes they are fat or overweight if they feel like that. We recognise the danger and the MH element there

But with trans,, where the person feels in the wrong body, wrong name, wrong pronoun, dont like these bits on my body, want them taken off, want different hormones - we 'treat' that by going along with it and agreeing with it. We dont recognise the MH element in that.

Big difference

Yep, I agree with this. I also think the trans lobby sometimes befriends them and grooms them into thinking it is the answer to all their issues.

Im not sure the trans lobby as a group, is a different group to people who have autism, they are one and the same. People who have often struggled to carve out a role or identity for themselves creating and maintaining a legitimate way to validate themselves and become powerful.

@bellac11

"Im not sure the trans lobby as a group, is a different group to people who have autism, they are one and the same."

I sort of agree. The online autistic community is really supportive. But I have noticed when people post to vent often people suggest other diagnosis as they have that diagnosis and can relate.

Great post @BaseDrops

I am autistic, and I can confirm that the NHS’s approach is very much “Here’s your autism diagnosis now fuck off”. There is very little support for autism, and very little help for young people who are socially excluded and bullied due to autism.

If an autistic pupil complains about being excluded, the school will just shrug and say “we can’t make the other kids be friends with you”. But if the pupil is trans then suddenly being excluded is a hate crime, the school is very keen to resolve it, and people are very interested in being supportive and friendly allies who defend the bullied pupil and call the bullies terfs.