The Lost Girls of Autism

The first scientific exploration of neurodiversity in women and girls, and why it is being ignored across the world.

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The history of autism is male. When autistic girls meet clinicians, they are often misdiagnosed with anxiety, depression, personality disorders, or are missed altogether. Many women only discover they have the condition when they are much older, missing decades of support and understanding. Autism’s ‘male spotlight’ means we are only now starting to redress this profound injustice.

In The Lost Girls of Autism, renowned brain scientist Gina Rippon delves into the emerging science of female autism, asking why it has been systematically ignored and misunderstood for so long. Generations of researchers, convinced autism was a male problem, simply didn’t bother looking for it in women. But it is now becoming increasingly clear that autism is manifestly different for women and girls, and that camouflaging – hiding autistic traits to fit in – is far more widespread than we thought. Urgent and insightful, this groundbreaking book is a clarion call for society to recognize the full spectrum of autistic experience.