The comments of Uta Frith this week have caused deep concern in the autistic community. Whilst just one person’s opinion, it is polarising because it aims to shut down the late-diagnosed and the concept of masking. The other issue is that here are more comments about the autistic community from somebody who is not autistic. So much of the new autism research includes the auto-ethnographic, but I wonder if Dame Frith has consulted any late-diagnosed autistic women before making these comments. 

There are a few specific comments I would like to discuss in my blog which make me specifically uncomfortable. 

1. Late-diagnosed people should not be labelled as autistic.

If my daughter M were a child in the eighties like I was, it is highly likely that, like me, she would be labelled as awkward and difficult. A difficult girl who was being over dramatic and hysterical. How many terms used in women’s health and behaviour stem from this Victorian language?  That’s a side track…. Anyway, it is unlikely that she would be diagnosed in her eighties, and would like me, be forced to go through years of therapy, unhappiness and ostracism as I have. Instead, we understand autism more now, and she was diagnosed at the age of 9. It is highly likely I would be diagnosed as a child if I was a child now. 

• The criticism of masking

Again, this is a non-autistic woman talking about the experiences of autistic women. Apparently, there is no scientific evidence for masking. We understand so little about the human brain that, even without scientific evidence for masking, we never truly know what it does and does not do.  As a woman who has hidden all her life, to me masking is very, very real, with the huge pressure from society to fit in and be what society expects me to be. These pressures are less now than in the eighties and nineties, although not completely gone. The diagnosis has given me permission to begin removing the mask. 

• There is no cultural bias in the diagnosis of autism

Dame Frith uses the fact that there is more psychopathy in men than in women, but I think throughout history, medical research has always been biased toward men. Yes, it may be true that psychopathy is more prevalent in men, and women may be more empathetic than men, but we know that autism research has always been more concentrated on men and boys. 

Autistic women and girls need support at this time, not being told that identity is not who they think they are. I will do whatever it takes to make sure autistic girls have the same school experience I had, and this means early diagnosis and ongoing support to make them resilient. Comments like this seem very unhelpful. Surely, our focus should be on support and understanding, and what I do agree with Dame Frith on is that teachers should act straight away when they believe a child needs support, rather than waiting for an assessment, and should be empowered to do so. It’s a shame the TES did not lead with this headline, but it would not have created the same buzz.