Both autistic TGD and autistic cisgender adults reported significantly poorer healthcare experiences than non-autistic cisgender individuals across 50 out of 51 evaluated items.

Dr. Elizabeth Weir emphasized the importance of considering identity aspects, such as gender, in assessing mental health risks and improving healthcare for these populations.

Professor Sir Simon Baron-Cohen stressed the need for healthcare systems to adapt to the unique needs of autistic TGD individuals and advocated for collaborative efforts among policymakers, clinicians, and researchers.

The study revealed that autistic TGD individuals had higher rates of diagnosed long-term physical and mental health conditions, with 23% having at least one diagnosed physical condition, compared to 15% of autistic cisgender individuals and 10% of non-autistic cisgender individuals.

The survey assessed various aspects of healthcare experiences, including communication, access issues, and mental and physical health conditions, highlighting significant disparities.

Notably, only 20% of autistic cisgender adults and 10% of autistic TGD adults felt they understood their healthcare professionals, in stark contrast to 100% of non-autistic cisgender adults.

Autistic TGD individuals were found to be three to eleven times more likely to experience anxiety, shutdowns, and meltdowns during healthcare encounters compared to their non-autistic counterparts.

Dr. Weir also pointed out the mental health risks associated with intersecting identities in clinical settings, underscoring the need for targeted interventions.

Collaboration among policymakers, clinicians, and researchers is essential to improve healthcare access and quality for autistic TGD individuals.

A recent study published in Molecular Autism on January 21, 2025, is the first large-scale examination of the healthcare experiences of autistic transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals.

Researchers at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University discovered that autistic TGD individuals report lower quality healthcare compared to both autistic and non-autistic cisgender individuals.

The findings highlight the necessity for healthcare systems to consider intersectionality in clinical settings to better serve autistic TGD individuals.