New study confirms: Gender Diverse show much higher rates of autism

submitted by BEB from spectrumnews.org

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[–]TurtleFuzz 9 insightful - 1 fun9 insightful - 0 fun10 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Nearly 70 percent of autistic gender-diverse adolescents say they need medical gender-related care, according to a small 2018 study, and 32 percent say their gender identity has been questioned because of their autism diagnosis.

“It’s really, really distressing to read sometimes, where you have people who have very strong gender dysphoria and want to transition, and their therapist says, ‘Well, we need to first cure your autism before we transition,’ which is wrong on all levels,” Warrier says. “We want this study to really demonstrate that both of these things can co-occur, and just because these things co-occur does not mean that one should be denied.”

What therapist actually thinks that autism is something you can cure? Do they also think you can catch it, too? This really makes me concerned, does the study investigator (as he is mentioned) know what autism is?

I get he wants to protect autistic children and teens, but allowing them to disregard safety and future health for immediate satisfaction is not the way to help these kids.

[–]BewitchedSam 10 insightful - 1 fun10 insightful - 0 fun11 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I'm guessing this comes from the researchers misinterpretation. I have ASD and no one has ever told me they could cure it. I've always been told I can be taught how to manage symptoms and build social skills. It would make sense for a clinician to try to address other mental health concerns before approving transition. I'd argue its good practice even, but I can't imagine any clinical psychologist suggesting they could cure autism or to be frank any mental health issue. They typically look for ways to treat and manage symptoms. Using the term 'cure' could set up an unrealistic expectation for treatment even with things like anxiety, depression or PTSD.

[–]slushpilot 5 insightful - 1 fun5 insightful - 0 fun6 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Using the term 'cure' could set up an unrealistic expectation

Just like using the term 'transition' and recommending that in the absence of a cure...

[–]BewitchedSam 4 insightful - 1 fun4 insightful - 0 fun5 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I agree vehemently. Telling someone that transitioning will cure their gender dysphoria which will then cure their depression and anxiety and give them self confidence sets up extremely unrealistic and unhealthy expectations. There are also unrealistic expectations with how transition will turn out. They have expectations they'll become handsome men or beautiful women and they very very rarely do. I feel bad for these people.