Autism in women: Signs and diagnosis

[Jonn]

For many decades it was thought that men were very much more likely to be autistic than women. Some studies placed the ratio of autistic males to females as high as 16:1. In the last decade, however, researchers at University College London have shown that the true prevalence is closer to 3:1. Yet women are still often under diagnosed.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/health/ot...&cvid=cb9637fb42624820dc09f710c8f3657e&ei=232

 

[Neri]

True dat. We often mask so much more effectively than our male counterparts.
I was a super quiet kid who hid in books and libraries throughout school. I was too scared to allow myself to stand out or be troublesome. Instead, I developed very awful mental health problems and dropped out of school and became a homeless kid and got picked up by an older predatory male and impregnated while still a minor.

 

[FayetheAspie]

I was the kind of 7-12 year old girl who was actually somewhat outgoing but tried to give same age children science lectures on topics such as the vascular system of plants while they just wanted me to shut up and pretend to be a princess or something. I eventually learned that they didn't really want to hear it so I became more introverted and just daydreamed that there was someone my age that liked the same things that I did. Even later on I have always been glad to infodump about such things if someone shows the least little bit of interest in it.

 

[Misty Avich]

I've always been the "shy and anxious" type, with average intelligence (though I can sometimes feel below average compared to my peers), but appear normal and non-obvious on the outside. I don't lack a great deal of social skills, I just appear shy and lacking in confidence but not unsociable or peculiar or anything. I've also always been a "bag of nerves", as in scared of everything.

On the plus side, I've always been the kind, caring type, who aims to get along with everyone. Although I come across as "hard work" on this site (and I am when it comes to discussions about autism), I'm actually rather placid, passive and understanding offline. I have good manners and always like to make people feel worth my time and just get along. I don't like causing drama or conflict, and I fear confrontation. But at the same time I do become emotionally involved with people, like at work, so sometimes I find myself caught up in workplace drama and I stress and worry when this happens. But I don't cause it though, as like I said, I am passive and polite and friendly to everyone unless someone has given me a good reason to dislike them or they're just jerks. But even then I don't want to cause a scene. I just ignore them or only speak if they speak to me and just be polite but not too engaging.

 

[FayetheAspie]

It sounds like you are a nice and kind person and I agree that it is best to just ignore jerks as much as possible instead of getting in arguments with them. I often struggle with anxieties too but have come to learn that the best thing to do is to discuss my concerns with the Lord. He cares about each of us and wants to be the there for us.