You may have seen videos on social media where people detail the signs that made them realize they’re autistic. Viewers are finding them enlightening and comforting as many people — mainly women — are undiagnosed as they reach adulthood. According to Dr.
Megan Anna Neff , a clinical psychologist based in Oregon, a recent study found that 80% of women with autism are still undiagnosed at age 18. There are many reasons for this: For starters, people learn to adjust their behavior to fit in with society. Additionally, the autism diagnostic tools used today were developed exclusively on white boys from high socioeconomic status, said Stephanie Gardner-Wright , a licensed master social worker and certified autism clinical specialist in Michigan.
There is also a huge focus on the external signs and not so much the internal symptoms of autism, Gardner-Wright said. And those internal symptoms are very different from person to person. “There are so many ways that autism can show up and present,” Neff added.
“I think there’s more diversity within autism than there is between autism and allistic.” (Allistic people are folks who aren’t on the autism spectrum.) That said, there are a number of signs or thought patterns that undiagnosed autistic people may be able to relate to.
HuffPost spoke with mental health professionals, including some people who are neurodivergent themselves, about the signs of autism in adulthood: A Feeling Of Being ‘Different’ From Others All .