There has been a surge of teenagers diagnosed with gender dysphoria since the mid-2000s. It is clear from both studies and clinic observations that a large proportion of these young people are on the autism spectrum.

 

The rates of suspected autism for minors with gender dysphoria have ranged from 20% to 50%.  For example, the Gender Development Identity Service at Tavistock, UK (now closed down) estimates that as many as 35% of its gender patients had autism. This is alarming given that less than 2% of children in the UK are thought to have an autism spectrum disorder.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage, Teenage Girls and the Transgender Craze, observed that there appears to be a high rate of correlation between those with gender dysphoria and those who meet diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder:

 

Many of the parents I spoke with told me their daughters had some version of “high-functioning autism”—meaning their daughters were highly intelligent, characterized by fixation and rigid thought, had terrible trouble deciphering social cues, struggled to recognize interpersonal physical boundaries, or had difficulty empathizing with others. In the course of researching this book, I learned two disturbing facts about autism and its treatment. Like gender dysphoria, the diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has skyrocketed in the last decade. And many clinicians specializing in autism are actively encouraging gender exploration in their autism patients.

 

Even the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), which vocally supports medical transitions for minors, acknowledges that “autistic/neurodivergent transgender youth represent a substantial minority subpopulation of youth served in gender clinics globally,” and the group encourages providers to pursue additional training on the needs of their autistic patients in its latest standards of care.

 

It is of great concern that these gender affirming organisations now promote the social and medical transition of autistic people.

 

Certain countries and States in the United States have banned gender affirming care for minors.  Missouri, a State in the US, has also banned gender affirming care for all autistic people (both adults and minors).

 

We ask you to examine:

 

 

NBC News, 14 April 2023 Missouri To Limit Gender-Affirming Care For Minors And Adults

 

The Maine Wire, 13 March 2023 "Horrifying": Huge Proportion of Children Pursuing Gender Transitions Are Actually Autistic, Experts Believe

 

Spectrum News 14 September 2020 Largest Study To Date Confirms Overlap Between Autism And Gender Diversity

 

Bernard Lane report in The Australian, 11 June 2020 Gender Change No Fix For Autism

 

Gender: A Wider Lens Podcast, 4 March 2022 65 -  Pioneers Series: Gender - The Big Picture with Susan Bradley

 

Doug VanderLaan et al., “Autism Spectrum Disorder Risk Factors and Autistic Traits in Gender Dysphoric Children,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 45, no. 6 (December 2014): 1742–50, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269420151_Autism_Spectrum_Disorder_Risk_Factors_and_Autistic_Traits_in_Gender_Dysphoric_Children;

 

A. L. de Vries et al., “Autism Spectrum Disorders in Gender Dysphoric Children and Adolescents,” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 40, no. 8 (August 2010): 930–36; Riiittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino et al., “Gender Dysphoria in Adolescence: Current Perspectives,” Adolescent Health, Medicine, and Therapeutics 9 (2018), 34, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5841333/.

 

Abigail Shrier, Irreversible Damage

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By AWW member, Catherine Rein