A qualitative exploration into diagnostic barriers of gender-diverse autistic individuals

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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Tien, I. S., Seibold, J., Pearson, A., & Seers, K. (2025). A qualitative exploration into diagnostic barriers of gender-diverse autistic individuals. Feminism & Psychology, 35(4), 555-575. https://doi.org/10.1177/09593535251345159

Publication date: 15 Jul 2025 Added to AutiHub: 17 Sep 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
Publisher source (DOI) Full text OpenAlex source

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Authors

Publication authors
4
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 4 (25.0%)
  1. Ingrid S. Tien *
  2. Jay Seibold
  3. Arabella Pearson
  4. Kate Seers

Abstract

Research investigating gender disparities between autistic individuals has been restricted to a binary scope, focusing on how and why females are often overlooked within the diagnostic process. While this research has provided valuable insight, it neglects gender-diverse youth, limiting the understanding of why there are higher rates of autistic youth identifying as gender diverse compared to neurotypical children. A potential explanation for this trend is that challenges understanding illogical social norms, including the performance of gender, may be an autistic trait. As such, this qualitative study utilized reflexive interviews to examine how 24 autistic adults, 14 of which identified as nonbinary, make sense of their intersectional identities separate from dominant narratives within cisgender and autism spaces. Using the theories of gender performativity and the feminist model of disability, themes were created from participants’ narratives of how the rigidity of being autistic disrupts the system of internalizing gender socialization, as does the lack of logic in gender as a social construct. Through this, our participants discussed their refusal to make sense within the dominant narrative of autistic and gendered presentations.

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: 20 Sep 2026 01:01.

Cited references
65
With a DOI
47
Without a DOI, from raw bibliography text
16
4 / 65 (6.2%) cited references include at least one author identified as autistic.
References with data to complete
5 / 65 (7.7%)
References with detected author names
61 / 65 (93.8%)
Without detected author names
4
Without a structured title
4
Without a stable identifier
15
References with raw author names still to review
3
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
172
From DOI or external metadata
172
From validated raw bibliography text
0
Raw names already validated
0
Raw names still to review
3
66 / 172 (38.4%) names are linked to an author already present in AutiHub. 106 / 172 (61.6%) names are not yet linked.
Names linked to a person identified as autistic
5 / 172 (2.9%)
Calculated across all author names detected in the cited bibliography. Among names linked to an author already present in AutiHub: 5 / 66 (7.6%). Distinct people identified as autistic: 5 / 157 (3.2%).
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