Correlation doesn't always equal causation, but that won't stop officials from trying to link being autistic to being transgender.
The United Kingdom's National Health Service (NHS) raised alarms in April when it announced that it intends to test all youth experiencing gender dysphoria for neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism and ADHD, to determine if their "symptoms are caused by autism," according to a copy of the proposed plan via The Telegraph.
The decision has been criticized for treating trans and autistic people as something to be eradicated rather than accommodated. The LGBT+ Liberal Democrats, a body of the U.K.’s Lib Dems political party, said in a statement that the proposal "pathologises two groups that deserve protection by the NHS (trans kids and autistic ones) in an attempt to remove their bodily autonomy."
While trans people are more likely to be autistic, there's no proof to suggest that autism causes people to be transgender. Here's everything we know about it so far.
Is autism linked to gender dysphoria?
It's true that transgender and nonbinary people are more likely to be autistic. Transgender and gender-diverse individuals are approximately three to six times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than cisgender people, according to a 2020 study published in Nature.
Other studies have found that people with autism are more likely to be LGBTQ+ overall. A 2021 report from the University of Cambridge found that cisgender autistic men were 3.5 times more likely to identify as bisexual than non-autistic men, whereas autistic women are three times more likely to identify as lesbian than non-autistic women.
Why are people with autism more likely to be transgender?
While transgender people are more likely to be diagnosed with autism, there is no evidence that suggests one causes the other. Autism, like gender dysphoria, has no one single cause, but can be attributed to multiple genetic, biological, and environmental factors, according to the American Brain Foundation. (And no, it's not caused by vaccines either.)
Some research suggests that the higher rate of gender dysphoria among people with autism could be influenced by differing hormones and sex characteristics. Autistic men are more likely to have a higher-pitched voice, according to a study in the National Library of Medicine, and autistic women were found to have increased facial masculinity in a separate study in Nature.
What did RFK Jr. say about autistic kids?
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. drew widespread condemnation after hosting a press conference on April 16 in which he made several false statements about autism, including claiming “autism destroys families” and is an “individual tragedy as well.”
"These are kids who will never pay taxes, they’ll never hold a job, they’ll never play baseball, they’ll never write a poem, they’ll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted," he said, adding, "Most cases now are severe. Twenty-five percent of the kids who are diagnosed with autism are nonverbal, non-toilet-trained, and have other stereotypical features.”
What can autistic people do?
The majority of autistic people are perfectly capable of communicating, holding jobs, and falling in love, but even if they were not, they would still deserve respect. While many people with autism have learning disabilities and physical impairments, most are not directly caused by autism.
Only around 10.1 percent of parents of autistic children classified their child's autism as "severe," according to a 2024 study from researchers at the University of Utah and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and just 38 percent of those in the "severe" group also reported a "severe" learning disability. About 67 percent of those in the “severe” category had trouble bathing or dressing, which would be less than 7 percent of all autistic people.
Over 70 percent of autistic men and 76 percent of autistic women engage in sexual activity, the University of Cambridge report also found, and around 61 percent of autistic adults are employed, according to a separate study in the National Library of Medicine.
Can autistic people be transgender?
The majority of autistic people are perfectly capable of self-actualizing and are therefore able to experience gender dysphoria and make the decision to transition. Autism is a broad range of conditions that is different for everyone, but it is primarily associated with difficulties socializing — not difficulties understanding personhood.
Pari Kim, an out bisexual woman from Netflix's reality dating show for adults with autism, Love on the Spectrum, previously told The Advocate that "there's nothing wrong" with being autistic or LGBTQ+ — or both.
"There's people saying, like, 'You're confused' or 'Your sister's a bad influence.' No, this is just who we are, and we don't have to change ourselves," she said. "There's a lot more of us out there than you think, and it's just part of who we are."
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