I mean, apparently congress needs a “MEN CAN GET BREAST CANCER TOO SO COVERING MAMMOGRAMS ISN’T EVEN A WOMAN’S ONLY ISSUE YOU SMUG SHIT HEAD” awareness campaign.

LOTS of women diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (which is now what they’re calling Aspergers - I think they used to define it as a separate condition from Autism) in their late teens or even their 20s. It’s because the diagnostic criteria heavily favor boys and many professionals will go so far as to refuse to…

I can’t remember where, but I did read a long piece on this phenomenon. Basically, we focus so hard on teaching girls how to be social, that girls on the high-functioning end of the spectrum can pick up enough skills to fake it enough to not be obvious about the “classic symptoms”. Where, boys don’t get the social…

I honestly think that it isn’t really more prevalent in boys at all. They’re just the ones getting the diagnosis.

yeah i read a pretty scathing take down of autism speaks awhile ago. essentially the argument was that autism speaks actually does anything but - it doesnt allow the very voices it pretends to champion have any say, so basically it should be ‘people without autism speak for those with autism without letting those with…

I wish I could star you one million times! I absolutely believe autism is way under-diagnosed in girls; for the most part the only females I have seen with a diagnosis of autism are at the profound end, where it practically slaps you in its face its so obvious. But barely any diagnoses at the higher functioning end.…

Absolutely correct, according to the latest research. They’re starting to see that young girls present very differently with autism, and it too often leads to missed diagnosis and/or incorrect treatment.

Yeah, it just manifests in so many different ways. I think people are only just starting to understand that.

I was diagnosed this year, at 29. High functioning autism. I grew up in a country where there isn’t much awareness about autism and the spectrum. My issues were blamed on depression and just “being weird”. Also, I always performed really well in school, so my tantrums, lack of social interactions, sensory issues never…

Heck, I just got diagnosed in my late 40s. They’re only tells if people are willing to see them.

Like everything else in the universe, males are the default, so the autism diagnosis relies primarily on how the condition presents in boys. Since it presents differently in girls, they are woefully underdiagnosed. I’m glad you finally got your diagnosis.

Well, Aspergers. But I don’t really think the two are actually separate disorders. I didn’t have language delays or any obvious developmental delays as a baby. In cases like mine it’s usually often discovered once you get to school. But even though my IQ tests showed evidence of a non-verbal learning disorder (my…

I hope they are. They dropped “cure” from their mission statement but I have difficulty believing that the funding goes to anything besides awareness and some genetics research. They were pretty silent when the ACA is in trouble, which isn’t much of a shock seeing as their founder is a Trump supporter.

Every time I see his twitter header image it makes me think of:

That is pretty much the description of Autism Speaks. It says a lot when drumpf is besties with the founder of it. And he certainly hasn’t distanced himself from the antivaxxer, blame autism on vaccines bullshit. He made the rounds at the same time Deniro was. In fact, I would bet that is why drumpf is pushing the…

God, and the fact that he was able to put those benefits away for college just shows how privileged he is. A lot of people have to use those benefits just to survive.

This is the definition of evil - knowing better, knowing what you’re doing will harm people and not giving a single fuck anyway.

Like Susan G. Komen. They’re aware of breast cancer. They’re so aware that they make millions off breast cancer’s existence. They’re just not going to actually do anything about it.

Being aware of autism - but not actually giving a shit about helping - is pretty much the same philosophy as having access to health care, but not being able to actually afford it.

When Paul Ryan uses social safety nets to go to college and prevent his family from sliding into poverty, it’s totes different. Everyone else is a lazy asshole who is a parasite to the taxpayers.