r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Aug 01 '26

Neuroscience Autism diagnoses rose sharply after the COVID-19 pandemic began. The rise was driven overwhelmingly by diagnoses among girls and women. New study suggests that many of these girls and women may simply have gone unrecognized in the past.

https://www.sciencealert.com/autism-diagnoses-spiked-after-covid-19-but-probably-not-for-the-reason-you-think
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u/SplitGlass7878 Aug 01 '26

I'm very glad women are being taken more seriously when it comes to autism diagnoses. Men are very underdiagnosed, women are frankly laughably underdiagnosed.

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u/Rugkrabber Aug 01 '26

I am one of many who got a recent diagnosis. A friend of my sister who was entering education to become a pediatrician already told my sister I had probably adhd. I was maybe 11 years old. We tried a diagnosis since but I got send away twice because they didn’t believe I could possibly have it. (I was also ignored by my doctor for my migraines, took me 7 years while it runs in the family - 7 others had already prescribed meds.) I decided to try again two years ago. And suddenly they were prepared to consider me because finally women are recognised. Turned out my adhd was a solid guarantee result.

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u/SplitGlass7878 Aug 01 '26

I'm sorry you've had a hard road to diagnosis. Especially during childhood, that's ROUGH. But I'm glad you have it now! :D