{"id":74,"date":"2021-05-03T20:14:35","date_gmt":"2021-05-03T20:14:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dianapaulin.domains.trincoll.edu\/locating-black-autism\/?p=74"},"modified":"2021-07-29T21:10:54","modified_gmt":"2021-07-29T21:10:54","slug":"listening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dianapaulin.domains.trincoll.edu\/locating-black-autism\/emerging-media\/listening\/","title":{"rendered":"Listening to Black Autistic Women and Girls"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Black autistic women and girls are forced to deal with three types of structural inequalities at the same time:<\/p>

Racism, Sexism, and Ableism <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

 It is important to note from the beginning that this page does not<\/strong><\/em> speak for Black<\/a> autistic women, since I myself am not a member of that community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am a white, non-autistic woman, but this spring semester (2021), I took a course about “Autistic Blackness” (AMST 440\/880 at Trinity College, Hartford with Professor Diana Paulin, and this webpage is my final project for that class.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My goal was to collect information and stories about Black autistic women, by<\/strong> <\/em>Black autistic women, in order to uplift their voices and spread information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are also some sources included here from outside the Black autistic women\u2019s community in order to help frame these experiences into a broader societal context. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black autistic women and girls are habitually ignored and disregarded because there are two main misconceptions that society about Autism Spectrum Disorder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Autism only affects white people <\/li>
  2. Autism is only a disorder in boys<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Neither of these statements are true. They only exist due to the biased opinions of doctors and psychologists who historically only diagnosed white boys with the condition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In a 2002 documentary, Refrigerator Mothers<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>Dorothy Groomer (a Black mother with a Black autistic son) explained that doctors refused to diagnose her son with autism because their family,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    “did not fit their [autistic] mold…which is white, upper-middle class, and very, very bright.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    So, if a patient did not check all those boxes, doctors assumed they could not be autistic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Although this occurred decades ago, the structural racism and biases in medicine against Black people, and specifically against the idea that Black people can have autism, still persists today and affects when and how Black children are diagnosed with ASD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    And since it was, and is, difficult for Black boys to be diagnosed with ASD, it is two times as difficult for Black girls because they are combating incorrect medical assumptions rooted in racism and<\/em> sexism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This underrepresentation of Black people, especially Black women and girls, with ASD perpetuates the lack of support and care the Black community has always faced from medical professionals, and society in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Black Lives Matter<\/a>, including Black women and girls, Black autists, and Black woman autists.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n

    We need to do a better job at listening, recognizing, and supporting this community who are fighting to stand up for their rights. They should not have to fight alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It’s not difficult to find more information about and from Black autistic women and girls. Social media, Google, and your local library are three great places to start educating yourself. This webpage only holds a fraction of the important information, and it’s vital to listen to the direct source, and not just a researched website collection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    What you fill find below are analyses of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. CDC statistics about autism diagnoses across different races <\/li>
    2. Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw\u2019s TedTalk on \u201cThe urgency of intersectionality\u201d<\/li>
    3. Three TikTok social media videos by three different Black autistic women discussing their experiences <\/li>
    4. \u201cLove is a Basic Science\u201d from the collection of poems, She Has a Name<\/em>, by Kamilah Aisha Moon<\/li>
    5. Additional resources for Black autistic girls to connect more with their community, and other readers who want to expose themselves to different Black autistic perspectives and learn more <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
      <\/div>\n\n\n\n

      CDC Information & Statistics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
      \n\n\n\n

      The CDC has countless articles filled with research about ASD and the how the diagnoses differ between race and gender. As of 2016, the CDC found that ASD is \u201c4.3 times as prevalent among boys as among girls<\/a>\u201d and that although,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \u201c[there is] no overall difference between black and white children aged 8 year, the disparities for black children persisted in early evaluation and diagnosis of ASD.”<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

      \"\"<\/a>
      (link to article)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Evidently there is no scientific proof that Black children are less likely to have ASD, but there is<\/em> a difference in race depending on how and when children get diagnosed. So Black children are not less likely to have <\/em>autism, but they are less likely to be diagnosed with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      A similar line can be drawn between more white children being diagnosed than Black children, and more boys being diagnosed than girls. Although studies now show that boys are much more likely to have autism, a few decades ago they said white children were much more likely to get autism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      So this begs the question, are girls really less likely to be autistic? Or are researchers and doctors just adhering to an old assumption? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/div>\n\n\n\n

      Kimberl\u00e9 Crenshaw and Intersectionality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
      \"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
      <\/div>\n\n\n\n
      \n