Description

The difference that being female makes to the diagnosis, life and experiences of an autistic person is hugely significant. In this widely expanded second edition, Sarah Hendrickx combines the latest research with personal stories from girls and women on the autism spectrum to present a picture of their feelings, thoughts and experiences at each stage of their lives.
Outlining the likely impact will be for autistic women and girls throughout their lifespan, Hendrickx surveys everything from diagnosis, childhood, education, adolescence, friendships and sexuality, to employment, pregnancy, parenting, and aging.
With up-to-date content on masking, diagnosis later in life, and a new focus on trans and non-binary voices, as well as a deeper dive into specific health and wellbeing implications including menopause, PCOS, Hypermobility/Ehlers-Danlos, autistic burnout, and alexithymia, this is an invaluable companion for professionals, as well as a guiding light for autistic women to understand and interpret their own experience in context.

Publisher Review

Sarah's brilliant first edition was life changing for me and (like so many others) led to an unexpected late diagnosis. This much-needed revision brings her work right up to date packed with meticulous research, significant developments and powerful anecdotal experiences from the autistic female perspective. Sarah's writing is captivating and utterly relatable, no doubt about it - this is THE essential guide to what we currently know about autism in girls and women. -- Steph Jones MNCPS, author of The Autistic Survival Guide to Therapy A deeply important book. Informative, comforting and, frankly, revolutionary. Sarah has done a remarkable job helping autistic women understand themselves in a world that rarely includes them. If you've been diagnosed autistic, suspect you're autistic, or love someone who's autistic, Women & Girls is a classic for a reason. -- Marian Schembari, author of A Little Less Broken