Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a bill on Friday aimed at addressing the issue of under- and delayed diagnosis of autism in women and girls.
Khanna, along with Republican Reps. Claudia Tenney of New York and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, introduced the “Spectrum Act” that would allow the president of the National Science Foundation to award grants for research on how to address autism in women and girls.
Males are diagnosed with autism at four times the rate of females, and in recent years there has been a growing consensus that females are either not diagnosed or are diagnosed with autism at a later age because the symptoms manifest differently compared to males.
Girls may be more likely to “hide” signs of autism, and adults around them may be more likely to overlook the symptoms.
“It's so important that the voices of those affected are at the forefront as we advance our understanding of autism spectrum disorder,” Kana said.
“Women's experiences have been excluded from autism research for so long that little is known about women's and girls' experiences with autism. I am proud to lead this bipartisan legislation to ensure women and girls are included in important research.”
In a statement, Kana's office said most autism research includes low or no female representation, limiting understanding of how women and girls experience the condition.
The Spectrum Act will fund research into “masking” among women and girls, as well as the “double empathy problem” theory, first coined by British autism researcher Damien Milton.
His theory refutes the idea that autistic people are less empathetic, arguing instead that autistic and non-autistic people lack a mutual understanding of each other's experiences, which makes it difficult for them to empathize with one another.
Emma Preston, senior policy adviser to Khanna, said her “real-life experience” had prompted the MP to look into the issue.
“I asked him if I could continue this research last year. At the time, I was trying to better understand whether my experience fell into the category of neurodiversity. I quickly realized that existing research focused almost exclusively on boys, with little to no gender, race or income differences,” Preston said.
“Very little formal research exists on women's and girls' inner experiences, the different ways in which women and girls learn to conceal their experiences in response to different societal expectations, and the different characteristics they express as a result.”
