Vulnerabilities, Strengths, & Best Approaches for Autistic Gender Questioning Youth
It’s understandable to be concerned about autistic youth falling prey to ideology. They can be rigid thinkers, highly fixated on their current interest, & naively vulnerable to being manipulated by social influences that prey on emotions they have difficulty articulating.
Many have also been bullied, shy, awkward, or ostracized. They might have a deep hunger to belong to a community of peers that includes, supports, encourages and protects them - or at least gives the appearance of promising to do so.
Sensory sensitivities can enhance any existing body dysmorphia, which a rigid obsessive mind can then latch onto & catastrophize, or plug into an ideological framework that’s been inculcated.
Furthermore, autistic people often do not abide by gender stereotypes to begin with. Girls & women may lack interest in dolls, makeup, playing house, uncomfortable clothing & body grooming practices, & the catty, manipulative, covert social games of adolescent girls.
This would give them all the more reason to resonate with a belief system that says that if you don’t conform to such stereotypes, you’re actually not your sex.
However, I want to offer a glimmer of hope for parents or other caring adults faced with these worries. One of my favorite things about autistic people is that they can be the most fair-minded & logical of anyone, especially if you know how to approach their thinking style.
If logical dialogue, research, & intellectual debate matches their style & adapts to their unique ways of reasoning, they can make wonderful, engaging, fair, reasonable & informative conversational partners.
This must be paired with a calm, predictable environment that is not too under- or over- stimulating on a sensory level. They must not be impaired by hunger, thirst, fatigue, or other biological factors that can affect mood & concentration.
The trick is to create the right social & environmental conditions to support their optimal functioning. Allow the autistic person to regulate themselves. Pay attention to their cues. If they’re dysregulated, do not proceed. Allow them to ground first through the senses.
Then, approach intellectual dialogue in a stepwise fashion with a fair, reasonable, logical approach in a safe, calm, trustworthy environment. Follow their thought process as though you’re tracing the steps to someone else’s complex mathematical computations.
I hope this has been helpful. Good luck and Godspeed!
These thoughts initially appeared in this tweet thread and have been copied & pasted into this brief post for your reference & convenience.
