Abstract

The difference that being female makes to the diagnosis, life and experiences of a person with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has largely gone unresearched and unreported until recently. In this book Sarah Hendrickx has collected both academic research and personal stories about girls and women on the autism spectrum to present a picture of their feelings, thoughts and experiences at each stage of their lives.

Outlining how autism presents differently and can hide itself in females and what the likely impact will be for them throughout their lifespan, the book looks at how females with ASD experience diagnosis, childhood, education, adolescence, friendships, sexuality, employment, pregnancy and parenting, and aging. It will provide invaluable guidance for the professionals who support these girls and women and it will offer women with autism a guiding light in interpreting and understanding their own life experiences through the experiences of others.

Sarah Hendrickx has a diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder. She is author of six books on the subject of autism and speaks at conferences worldwide. Sarah runs Hendrickx Associates, an autism and neurodiversity focused training, consultancy and support business. She lives West Sussex, UK, in a very crowded house with her (mostly autistic) family and autistic partner, Keith, and likes to travel to remote places on her bicycle to escape from them whenever she can.
This book adds to our knowledge by providing an insightful, sensitive analysis of the pattern of behaviours in females from childhood through to old age... This book endorses my clinical experiences in working with females in the autism spectrum and validates the importance of diagnosis at any time in a person's life. Therefore I would highly recommend this book for all professionals involved in diagnosis and supporting girls and women in the autism spectrum.
from the foreword by Dr Judith Gould, Consultant Clinical Psychologist and Director of The Lorna Wing Centre for Autism