Trans and Autistic: Stories from Life at the Intersection

It is incredibly important for trans autistic voices to be heard, especially now that research is being done on the connection/correlation between gender identity and autism. This book is an interesting and sensitive start to this area of research. The researchers, who also belong to the autistic and trans communities, subscribe strongly to the idea of 'nothing about us without us', and this shows in the way they talk about their research subjects.

There is a methodology at the beginning of the book, describing the research in detail. This is clearly a well thought out piece of research, hopefully providing a good grounding for future research in this area. The subjects are very diverse, which is on purpose, and was refreshing to see, as show more a lot of prior research in both the areas of autism and trans issues seem to skew heavily towards white people.

The interviews are presented in third person, which feels more academic, but at times can feel a little distanced from the person, less 'in their own words'. However, the interviews are written sensitively, without judgement. They can be hard to read at times, due to anecdotes about mental health and suicide, family rejection and disownment, abuse and ABA therapy. But there are also positive anecdotes, and a sense of hopefulness towards the future in many of the interviews. Containted within the interviews are lots of different opinions, many conflicting, because, as it's said, if you've met one autistic person (and/or trans person), you've met one autistic person. The book gives an interesting overview of the subject from the perspective of actually trans autistic people and highlights some intercommunity issues and debates. There is a lot of repetition, due to people having similar experiences, but the differences are what I found most interesting, for example how the age of diagnosis affected someone, and whether or not they transitioned before or after their autism diagnosis and how that affected their transition.

In regards to whether autism and gender identity are connected, the research is still being done. Several different theories that could be explored were floated in this book. One that stuck out to me was that 'gender could be seen as a part of neurotypical culture that is often inscrutable and inapplicable to many autistic people'. That being autistic changed the way that gender was viewed or understood, either making autistic people more likely to explore their own gender, or more likely to be seen as gender nonconforming. Plenty of further reading is suggested at the end of the book, for people who want to explore the subject further.

I hope future research is carried out in a similar way to this piece of research, and is beneficial for both communities. show less