More women than men get diagnosed with autism. That is why women who got a late diagnosis are asking for the diagnostic tools used to include the way in which they present traits
By Eelinn Vanquaethem
Images: Alanna Rose Whitney is an autistic artist the first Canadian chapter leader of ASAN and founder of the #REDinstead campaign. Credit: Alanna Rose Whitney, 25/04/2018
It's quite common to see children having fun together on a playground, but Amy Walker always stood out. As a little girl, she was bossing other children around; she'd never listen to what others had to say and wouldn't share anything with them.
In primary school, she was doing very well academically but was very difficult to handle. As her teacher and her parents got more and more worried, they finally decided to go to a child psychiatrist who got her tested for Asperger's.
After he had observed Amy for two weeks, he concluded that she couldn't possibly be on the autism spectrum as she was talking to people, managed to maintain eye contact, and there wasn't a history of autism in her family.
Her behaviour got worse and worse. "I was reacting to children, hitting them when they were nasty to me," Amy says. She'd even refuse to go to school as she found it "traumatising".
When she was eight years old, her cousin got diagnosed with autism. This led to Amy's parents getting her assessed again, but the psychiatrist still didn't see enough traits for her to be diagnosed with Asperger's.
It was only when Amy, aged 13, was taken to a female psychiatrist, who was specialised in autism, that they were able to diagnose her. Yet, her parents didn't explain to her what it was and she remained in the dark until she was 19...
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