FEMINISM
the thought that something is wrong without the understanding of what that may be. There are many causes of this issue, the main one being down to the lack of awareness surrounding how symptoms of these disorders are presented differently in women compared to men. Firstly, symptoms of ADHD become noticeable from an early age for boys and cause them to be disruptive, hyperactive, and sometimes aggressive. However, girls tend to start developing signs of ADHD after hitting puberty and struggle with problems that are less noticeable for parents and teachers including anxiety, inattention, low self-esteem, and depression. It is for this reason that girls are so much less likely to get tested for ADHD at younger ages; this pattern does not stop here as the exact same issue occurs with autism. Women with autism have a much larger drive to be sociable than their male counterparts; so, despite facing numerous difficulties when attempting to make and maintain friendships, they conform to the autism stereotype much less than men. This results in people who are not familiar with the female symptoms, not noticing these young girl’s difficulties due to their more visible social efforts. Furthermore, from the ages of 4-16 girls tend to outperform boys in terms of average reading and writing ability. This means that girls underperforming with their academics still tend to do better than the boys who are struggling academically so generally the boys are tested before the girls as their scores fall further below the class averages. Therefore, girls suffering with dyslexia, dyspraxia and other disorders that make learning in the normal way difficult are less likely to get diagnosed at a younger age.
In 2020, my brother was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder at 12 years old. Two years later and much older; my mum was diagnosed with the same thing. Unfortunately, women all over the country are faced with a similar problem and it is not just with ADD and ADHD, this trend continues throughout most neurodevelopmental disorders. Only 20% of women with autism are diagnosed before the age of 11 compared to 50% of men, and 2 in 3 children diagnosed with dyslexia are boys despite boys and girls being equally likely to have it. Many women live their entire life struggling with a disorder they do not even know they have. This can lead to detrimental effects down the line such as depression, anxiety, and a constant feeling of helplessness due to
20 % Only
of women with autism are diagnosed before the age of
11 compared to 50 % of men
21
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