“Life is Much More Difficult to Manage During Periods”: Autistic Experiences of Menstruation

This publication is included in the Autistic Autism Scholarship Project. one author of this publication is identified as autistic in the project.

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Steward, R., Crane, L., Roy, E. M., Remington, A., & Pellicano, E. (2018). “Life is Much More Difficult to Manage During Periods”: Autistic Experiences of Menstruation. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 48(12), 4287-4292. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3664-0

Journal or book title
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Volume
48
Issue
12
Pages
4287-4292
Publication date: 7 Jul 2018 Added to AutiHub: 6 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

This publication is integrated into AutiHub through:

Authors

Publication authors
5
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 5 (20.0%)
  1. Robyn Steward *
  2. Laura Crane
  3. Eilish Mairi Roy
  4. Anna Remington
  5. Elizabeth Pellicano

Abstract

Although menarche and menstruation are perceived to be overwhelmingly negative events for developmentally-disabled women, women's health issues remain under-researched in autism. Here, we conducted a preliminary investigation of the experiences of post-menarcheal autistic (n = 123) and non-autistic (n = 114) respondents to a brief online survey. Although autistic respondents reported many overlapping issues and experiences with non-autistic respondents, they also highlighted distinct-and sometimes-distressing-issues relating to menstruation, especially a cyclical amplification of autistic-related challenges, including sensory differences and difficulties with regulating emotion and behavior, which had a significant, negative impact on their lives. These initial findings call for systematic research on the potential causes, correlates and consequences of menstrual-related problems in autistic individuals-across the spectrum and the lifespan.

Bibliography cited by this reference

Cited references are imported from external metadata sources when they are available. The list may be partial.

Cited bibliography overview

These indicators describe the bibliography cited by this publication. An author name is counted each time it appears in one cited reference, so the same person can be counted more than once. Names not yet linked to an author already present in AutiHub are treated as unknown, not as non-autistic. Last computed: 2 Oct 2026 17:07.

Cited references
23
With a DOI
21
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
2
2 / 23 (8.7%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
1 / 23 (4.3%)
References with detected author names
22 / 23 (95.7%)
Without detected author names
1
Without a structured title
1
Without a stable identifier
2
References with raw author names still to review
1
References with external metadata lookup issues
0
These indicators apply to cited references displayed on this page, after technical duplicates have been merged. A reference without a DOI can still support author statistics when a title and author names are available.
Author names detected in the cited bibliography
54
From DOI or external metadata
54
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
1
12 / 54 (22.2%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 42 / 54 (77.8%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
2 / 54 (3.7%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 2 / 12 (16.7%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 2 / 52 (3.8%).
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  11. Jackie Rodgers , Jo Lipscombe (2005). The nature and extent of help given to women with intellectual disabilities to manage menstruation . Journal of Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 30(1), 45-52. Informa UK Limited.
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