Health of Autistic Women: State of the Field and Future Directions
By Dr Felicity Sedgewick and Dr Laura Hull
Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition characterised by differences in the way people process the world and interact with others. Awareness of autism in women and girls is increasing, but many aspects of autistic women’s experiences still remain unexplored, with potentially serious mental and physical health implications. We know that autistic women and girls are more anxious and depressed than autistic men, for example, and that they experience more difficulties around pregnancy and childbirth than non-autistic women – challenges compounded by the barriers to healthcare all autistic people face.
Over the past year we have guest-edited a special collection of articles for Women’s Health, focusing on new research around autistic women and girls’ physical and mental health, as well as identifying the areas that still require research attention. In this blog we reflect on some of the conclusions from this far-reaching and inspiring collection, and consider the next steps for research.
Research in this collection has explored the mental health needs of autistic women and girls, and considered how to address them. The article by Jeanne Wolstencroft and colleagues described how girls with Turner Syndrome, a rare genetic condition, are more likely than typically developing peers to also meet criteria for autism, and to have co-occurring mental health difficulties. Potential interventions to address the high levels of mental health conditions in autistic women came from Brianne Redquest and colleagues, who demonstrated the initial feasibility of an virtual mindfulness intervention for autistic women.
Intrinsically linked to mental health is wellbeing. Several studies have argued that getting an autism diagnosis later in life can significantly improve wellbeing for autistic women, as it gives a sense of self-knowledge and self-compassion. Miriam Harmens and colleagues looked at how this connection between diagnosis and wellbeing changes over time, finding that it is not a linear relationship and that diagnosis alone cannot improve all areas of wellbeing for autistic women.
Finally, editing this collection has brought to our attention the vast proportion of autistic women and girls who continue to be underrepresented in autism research. Imene Kassous notes that the majority of autism research focuses on the Global North, and argues that it is essential that more research explores the experiences and needs of autistic women and girls from the Global South. Similarly, Georgia Lockwood-Estrin and colleagues produced workshops with autistic women with experience of homelessness, to identify two key research priorities in this area: understanding the prevalence and demographics of autistic women experiencing homelessness, and identifying risk and protective factors for homelessness for autistic women. We agree that research and researchers must do more to consider the cultural context of autistic women and girls’ experiences, and to include those who have traditionally been marginalised.
The range of mental and physical health challenges highlighted here emphasise the need for ongoing research with autistic women, girls, and non-binary people. We hope that this collection will inspire other researchers to look beyond the genders, cultures, and experiences that they are used to seeing represented in autism research, to make the field more inclusive – and therefore, more impactful – in the future.
Special Collection Details
2022-2023: Health of Autistic Women: State of the Field and Future Directions
Guest Editors: Dr Felicity Sedgewick and Dr Laura Hull
Women's Health
About the Authors
