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Autism Diagnosis in Women and Girls

by Beth

Photo of Kate Kahle, a woman in a red dress and long brown hair. She is on a stage for TedTalk at Austin College Hats off to TED Talks! They highlight people with disabilities pretty regularly there, and with this being Autism Acceptance Month, they’re featuring an expert: a 20-year-old college student who was diagnosed as autistic in her teens.

Now a sophomore at Austin College, Kate Kahle is an advocate for autism acceptance. From her TED Talk’s bio:

She hopes to promote autistic self-love as well as help neurotypical individuals see autism not as a tragedy or a disease, but rather for what it is, a lifelong, genetic developmental disability that is just another way of thinking and being in the world.

In her TED Talk, Kate tells her audience that she’d always had autistic traits, but it wasn’t until she developed severe anxiety during her freshman year in high school that her parents took her in for an evaluation. “I just thought I was weird,” she says with a shrug.

It was then that she was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). “We were all shocked,” she says, going on to explain that symptoms common in women and girls with autism can differ greatly from symptoms boys and men experience.

“For every four boys diagnosed with autism, only one girl is diagnosed,” she says, adding that studies following children since birth show that the natural ratio of males to females with autism is closer to three to one.

But wait! Why am I telling you all this? Better to hear it from the expert! Kate Kahle outlines her thoughts on this discrepancy in her TED Talk, Why Autism is Often Missed in Women and Girls.


 

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  1. parentofautisticchild Says:

    April 28th, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    saw a segment on wpsd about lori center (sp?) lourie center (sp?) opening in west ky for assistance with autistm, aba, etc. any cost to it? open to all wpsd viewing area or only west ky? where can ppl find add’l info?

  2. parentofautisticchild Says:

    April 28th, 2023 at 3:02 pm

    saw a segment on wpsd about lori center (sp?) lourie center (sp?) opening in west ky for assistance with autistm, aba, etc. any cost to it? open to all wpsd viewing area or only west ky? where can ppl find add’l info?