Themes in Spoken Stories by Autistic Adults of Underrepresented Genders
What is it about?
Most research on autistic language use so far has focused on cisgender men and boys. To address this imbalance, we asked 20 autistic adults (mean age 32.85 years) of diverse genders to tell stories about their interests and experiences. Then, we analyzed the themes in those stories--what people talked about most often. In stories about a variety of activities, autistic participants overwhelmingly talked about how their interests connect them with other people. This was especially true for cisgender women, transgender people, and nonbinary/gender-expansive people.
Why is it important?
This research is important because professionals must get over gender-based stereotypes of autistic people as antisocial or disinterested in others. Misconceptions contribute to autistic women, trans people, and gender-expansive people being identified as autistic later in life or not at all. Timely identification and individualized understanding are necessary to support the best possible quality of life for autistic people, regardless of gender.