Unexpected Signs Of Autism In Women

Autism in women often looks very different than it does in men — which is why so many autistic women go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for years. In this episode of The Aspie World Podcast, I reveal some of the unexpected signs of autism in women that most people (and even professionals) completely miss.

From masking and people-pleasing to unique sensory triggers and burnout cycles, we’ll break down the subtle ways autism can show up in women — so you can finally get the clarity and validation you deserve.

• Less obvious traits of autism in women and girls

• Why many autistic women are overlooked by traditional diagnosis

• The impact of masking and social exhaustion

• How autistic traits can present differently compared to men

• Tips for self-acceptance, support, and thriving authentically

Understanding these unexpected signs can help autistic women recognise their strengths, get proper support, and stop blaming themselves for struggling in a world built for neurotypicals.

• Autistic women and girls seeking clarity and validation

• Parents supporting daughters who may be on the spectrum

• Professionals and educators wanting to better understand female autism

• Anyone curious about why autism often goes undetected in women

If you’ve ever wondered, “Could I be autistic?” or struggled with feeling different but not knowing why, this episode will give you insight, answers, and hope.

🎁 FREE Download: Get your Autistic Adult Bulletproof Brain Starter Kit and learn science-backed strategies to manage overwhelm, improve focus, and build unstoppable confidence → www.bulletproofbrain.org

If this episode helped you, please:
✅ Subscribe to The Aspie World Podcast so you never miss an episode
✅ Leave a review — your feedback helps us reach and support more autistic women and families
✅ Share this episode with friends, parents, or anyone exploring the unexpected signs of autism

Remember: autism doesn’t look the same for everyone — and your story deserves to be understood. 💜

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:Who This Episode Is For:Resources & Support for Autistic AdultsLet’s Stay Connected

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
So here's some unexpected signs of autism in women and girls.
Stay tuned. All coming up guys, welcome back
to the Aspy world. My name is Dan and I have autism
and ADHD. I make weekly videos all about
this stuff. So if you're new around here,
you want to learn more, rememberto hit the subscribe button down
below by clicking the notification bell and following
away other social media platforms to see daily videos
that I upload on there for everysingle day, which is crazy.

(00:20):
Now guys, it's really interesting.
I've done a lot of videos talking about women and girls
and autism, right? And there's a big whole kind of
shift happening right now where for years we only had data, we
only had real long term data that was using boys or males as
a test subject for testing for autism, right?
And so all the data in the research was backed up from 1942

(00:42):
to 1980s on males. And then we realized, hey, women
have autism too. And so now they're kind of
backtracking and trying to figure out all this data to get
all this research in, which is really interesting.
Takes a lot of money to hold time, I get it.
But that doesn't stop the fact that we have an abundance of
females who left off the autonomous spectrum kind of
diagnostic criteria because of various different things.

(01:02):
I mean, this could be done from just ignorance from doctors to
actually lack of data and research within the the protocol
for diagnosing and the nomenclature for autism in
females. So here's a little overview.
I'm going to leave some links down below as well to ask you to
read that too, all about kind ofunexpected signs of autism and
women. Because I think that there are
some telltale signs of autism and women that people will just

(01:24):
brush off as other issues because a lot of women will
actually get diagnosed as bipolar or ADHD or the true
anxiety disorder when actually it's autism.
But we don't really come across it that often because a lot of
the time women on the autism inspection will actually display
or exhibit signs that are not commonly associated with autism
specifically. So some of the signs for autism
women kind of include difficultywith social interactions, but

(01:48):
not limited to social interactions.
One way by this is that they mayhave issues with social
interactions, but because you can be masking or, or, or hiding
kind of behind a, a mask, so to speak in a social situation, a
woman or a female can can move past the awkwardness of the
situation to kind of like just struggle through that social

(02:09):
interaction even though they're struggling.
But then the struggle will come out when they're home, when
they're trying to chill, it willjust kind of come out and
they'll have an emotional outburst at home after
pretending to socialize all day because they have issues with
this. The others are sensory
sensitivities where, you know, some women can't wear certain
perfumes or they can't wear certain types of clothing is of
the sensitivity to that. And because this becomes come up

(02:29):
to do with autism that you have sensory processing disorder and
processing with senses as you know, clothing or, or, or smells
or even food. This can actually prevent women
from doing things like buying the perfume, like going out to
dinner, like buying certain clothes and those things.
A lot of people would be like ohthey're just fussy or they don't
like that. But in actual fact, this is down
to an autonomous fashion condition and a trait of autism.

(02:52):
Another one is issues with executive function.
Now this could be like anything from like organising your
clothes to organising your life,organising your finances, being
able to organise your kitchen, cook food.
All of these things are executive function skills and a
lot of the time autism presents self in women with executive
dysfunction skills. This could be anything from even
just picking up the phone and ordering a pizza to going out in

(03:13):
a grocery shop and actually making sure to pick everything
off that list because it can be quite challenging for females on
the spectrum to have issues withautism and executive functions.
So these are some of the things that you can kind of take away
from this. But one of the other main
telltale signs is, you know, issues with things like routine

(03:34):
and, and change in routine, likestruggling with changes or
unexpected changes is something that impacts autistic people
quite, quite a lot. And, and especially women.
If you have unexpected change within a day or routine or a
route or a something that is supposed to be happening for
that person on the autism spectrum, then there is a
possibility you're going to comeacross a meltdown and other big

(03:55):
major issues. Now these happen with boys as
well, but I think that it's moreprominent to see these in
females. And a lot of people brush it off
because there is always some bizarre war on women, which I
can't stand. And I'm also an ally.
So like, yeah, I'm big up to bigup to women and women's rights.
It's it's super important we do that.
So that being said guys, if thisvideo was good, please share it

(04:20):
if you think somebody can get something out of it and leave me
a comment down below. Let me know your thoughts of
those have discussion with you. If you're looking for mental
health support for yourself, then you can check out Better
Help. Better Help is an app that I've
linked down below in the description.
This is not a sponsored video, but what happens is Better Help
is an app. You download it and you can
connect with a counsellor or a therapist specifically at ADHD
or autism or whatever mental health condition you may have

(04:42):
and they will link you up within24 to 48 hours.
And you can have a conversation through the app, on text,
through audio or video, whateveryou choose.
But the cool thing is in the beauty of sitting at home in
your own comfortable environment, having that
therapy, I swear by it. I view Better Help a lot and I
think it's amazing. OK guys, see you in the next
video. Peace.