How To Spot Autism in High-Masking Women and Girls

If you're autistic, what are some of your experiences, and what challenges have you faced? If you are an autistic woman, were you diagnosed late due to any of the reasons we shared? Tell us about your experiences in the comments so we can all learn more together about autism in women! ⤵

You can't unless you know their childhood, teen and early adult trauma history, because THAT affects how someone behaves as an adult.
I am 72 and my Autism was not recognized until 2.5 years ago because Complex PTSD and D.I.D. overshadowed much of it. A week ago, after talking to a specialist they said there is a large component of ADHD as well....

10:00 It feels exactly like that 😢

This is how my mother would complain about my personality. And it felt weird. Which is like wow. My entire personality. Im an aquarist, oilfield worker, and he pretty well explained the rest 😆😅 DONT SPEAK TO MY MOM 👍 push on autistic woman

My husband was just diagnosed a few months ago at the age of 57. He is having a very hard time accepting his new reality, despite the fact that we both have suspected it for years. After watching him go through the process, reading the questions they asked him during his pre-interview process, filling out my own questionnaire on his behalf, I’m beginning to wonder if I may be on the spectrum myself. So many of the questions and the characteristics I see, not just as an adult, but in childhood as well, including the, “you’re just too sensitive,” tripe that I was told throughout my entire childhood growing up. I am interested in possibly getting evaluated by the person who did his evaluation, but right now I’m just trying to support him with his journey, and I don’t want him to feel like I’m stepping on his toes by trying to get diagnosed with the same thing he is. truly not the case, but I’m just trying to figure out if that is my reality as well. Unlike him, I would not take it in a hard way. I actually think I would be relieved and proud in a way. I don’t think it’s anything to be ashamed of at all.

The more I hear these explanations, the angrier I become at my family and society for treating me the way they did- that something was wrong with me personality wise

Recently (as in, this year in my late 30s) diagnosed with ADHD and it explains so much; and with the pleasant openness of discussing autism more and more, my mother read something lately that "common interests of autistics include space, trains and dinosaurs". She goes "so EVERY boomer boy I grew up with was autistic, huh?" Me: "MAYBE" As for myself, I was and remain to be HYPERFOCUSED on certain bands/genres, movies, actors, art, etc...never thought of that obsessiveness as being "autistic" but maybe it also explains why I have a better memory for facts than my peers? (Fellow quizzo/trivia night experts unite!)

Twirling my hair while rewatching the video because I zoned out the first time because I was trying to multitask.

I'm a autistic woman (I think because I've never been diagnosed) and I've never been interested in celebrities or mundane stuff. My current focus topic is Star Forts and Star Cities around the world. i'm pretty lonely in my life.

Lots of boys are interested in cars, trains, military... It's the intensity, not subject...

Je suis autiste et phobique sociale. Je me rend de plus en plus compte que ma phobie vient probablement de mon autisme. J'ai toujours eu du mal a me faire comprendre parce que j'avais un langage (et a encore un langage) particulier que les autres ne comprennent pas. Et cela m'a demandée beaucoup d'efforts pour essayer de l'adapter. Je suis considérée comme étrange, effrayante pour certains, et socialement inapte par les gens extérieurs pourtant ma famille m'a toujours considérée normale parce que je leur cachait du mieux que possible. Après une situation sociale j'ai tendance à revenir sur chaque mot prononcé et a les décrypter. Ça peut tourner en boucle pendant des mois et ça me bouffe mon énergie mentale...Lorsque je réfléchis intensément a quelque chose et que je parviens a élargir mes connaissances sur un sujet particulier, je me mets souvent a tourner en rond dans toute la maison a cause de l'excitation...Quant aux difficultés rencontrés...Bien sûr c'est l'incapacité a gérer les situations sociales, a se faire comprendre ou comprendre des choses simples, avoir une attitude adaptée au contexte, lire les signaux, s'intéresser a des sujets divers et variés, avoir des amis...

J'ai beaucoup aimé les "illustrations" avec la perruque rose. C'était très marrant.

This made me feel so understood it brought me to tears

What treatment options are there?

I just ordered a cool lamp

This is 100% on

38, undiagnosed, but a few had suggested I might have autism and I relate to all points in this video from childhood. My daughter had also been diagnosed with autism at 2.
Interestingly neither of us seem to mask most of the time and advocate for our preferences (eg. I always slept in another room whenever my partner kept me awake, and I didn't ever seem to care about fitting in.)

sigh.. my daughter is in the spectrum and she's 3. i took her to church, and she did well sitting for 10 min while eqting her snack. then she got up and said, "Let's go." So i asked if she wanted to go in the private back room. as we walked quietly and she followed me. i showed her the one before it, and she said "no" composing herself. and she pointed to the back back room. so we went there for a little bit. then she hid under the chairs and kept saying. "mami, im stuck. mami, im stuck." and i tried to comfort her. then i realized she's tired. so when i told her we could go in the car, she helped me pack. and we were on our way. as we drove off, i put her favorite song on. She closes her eyes to focus on the song. all of a sudden, she screams so loud. like what you see in the horror films. it was so sharp! and when the song finished, she said "good job" :( right there i realized she was trying to fit in. and it was hard...what i saw her behaving well.. took a lot of out her. breaks my heart. Shes such a bright girl though seriously.

I always get in trouble at jobs for talking too much, or telling the customer too much. Like, I was on the phone about an issue a customer was having, and another walked up. When they gave me that “what was that about?” kinda look, I told them. I am too honest, and I over-share.

Another thing is that I was picked on really bad growing up. It’s like the other kids somehow knew I was different.
A lady invited me to go with her and her friends on a Tahoe trip, but later she told me that the other ladies were mad at her for inviting me. Though they were always nice to my face, they all actually didn’t like me. And there was no particular reason. People always just think I’m weird or annoying. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It would be better if you had let an autistic woman talk about it... wig not enough😅

I am a special education teacher. So I studied autism in depth. I am quite sure I am autistic, but my family would never accept that. I will get diagnosed one day, but not yet.

The dancing is sending me ❤ Nice moves! Thank you.

I think i am autistic i have done LOTS of research over the past 2 years i have sensory issues and miss social cues etc. but these symptoms were not present in my childhood. Can i be still autistic?

This video is now a year old but just yesterday I found this channel and realized I am AuDHD. I struggled in the military for 18 years and now I am struggling to find a job that doesn’t overwhelm my nervous system. Smells, sounds, fluorescent lights, temperature changes, and driving anxiety have me feeling so broken and frustrated. I don’t where I’m going from here but unlocking this knowledge about myself is the piece of the puzzle I was missing. Thank you for your channel and for sharing your journey.

i really hate when my routine is interrupted, like i get really mad i might not even speak to anyone for a whole day because i'm fixated on how my routine is interrupted and i get into phase where i just can't do anything , and i can't even explain to other people why i do that because at the end of the day i'm not diagnosed, so most people think i'm complicated i think.

That diagnostics from who knows made this vidéo is bullsh***t. But thank you for keeping us was ring Time on YouTube.
In this vidéo All emotions women can feel are highlighted as a autistic trait secretely expressed by autistic women that has not been diagnosed yet. What a way to under value the everyday Modern woman. 🤮

I Hope this vidéo was ironie on purpose because otherwise, you’re just lying to thousand of people just to get view and money to pay your rent. 😷 😒

I never realized I was masking or that my brain worked different. I spent my whole life trying to figure out why I didn’t fit in.

I got diagnosed with Eczema and Migranes a few years ago, i had them my whole life. I remember when i was 12 and all of my classmates we're going out after school just for me to either go out with them and feel sick for the next few days or lie in bed the whole evening because of the schoolday alone. I always thought something was wrong with me. When I found out I had migranes it made so much sense! Other kids were not stronger or more resistant than me, I just need to live with something most other kids didn't even knew about. My triggers are people, lights and the sun, Sounds, not eating right, lack of sleep and stress. My doctor suggested in 2015, when i was still a teenager, that my headaches where caused by a mental illness, but I was to scared and my parents didn't look in to it at all, so I just gave up on that. I have lived my life until now with all of my own weird tics and habits. I have seen some of these videos and especially reading the comments made me think about myself in a different way. Maybe I'm not "to difficult" and my way of doing things is just the right way for me.

My oldest sisters said i had a lot of traits my mental health nurse run a test and said my scores where worth pursuing testing but other health issues came up that and it was put on the back burner that was 4 years ago then 2 years later was in a group confidence building cause and the topic come up so i said the above and the guy running the course was like no your not and i was like yeah but masking behaviour exists and i was born in 1991 grew up in Rhondda cynon taff when stiff like autism and adhd was bearly know about let alone talked about his response was like i dont think your masking and its put me off going for my assessment

I’m gonna try and go a day without trying to placate others and making
It’ll be scary but imma try to see what happens

I paint a lot now