Books

This book, published in April 2023 for a French-speaking audience, is the result of a long journey. The idea for it began after my own autism diagnosis around 2014, when it was very difficult to find scientific evidence on autism in females, especially for a non-scientific audience. Additionally, I felt that research findings were often disconnected from real-world concerns, despite the fact that integrating research with clinical and personnal perspectives can offer a richer, more nuanced understanding of autism and better reflect its complexity. To highlight these diverse perspectives and make the science more accessible, my autistic friend Hassnia and I launched the website and Facebook page Autisme Regards Croisés. Around that time, I also began reading and collecting a large number of scientific papers on autism in females. Finally, I started the writing in 2019/2020, thanks to my encounter with UGA Editions, which gave me the impetus to bring this project to reality.

In this peer-reviewed book, I introduce a social, epistemological, and historical perspective, while providing an overview of psychological and neuroscience research on autism in females. I also reflect on the challenges and complexities of autism diagnosis. Insights from 15 experts (including psychiatrists, neurospcyhologist, midwife, speech-therapist, social-worker, occupational therapist, peer-supprot workers) and testimonies from 13 autistic females at birth (including one transgender male) are interwoven with the latest scientific findings to provide a nuanced and multifaceted perspective on autism in females.

A review of this book was conducted by Jérôme A. Lapasset for the ANAE journal in March-April 2024.

I was grateful to be invited by the Pr. Catherine Barthélémy and Pr Frédérique Bonnet-Brilhaut to contribute to the new edition (published in october 2023) of this French book by writing a chapter on participatory research in autism. This is such an important topic and we still have a long way to improve participatory research with autistic idividuals in France.

In this chapter, I trace the historical development of participatory research and how it has evolved in the field of autism. I also highlight French examples of participatory research on autism, though still too few, and discuss the challenges that remain to be addressed.

I was thrilled to receive an invitation from my colleague Agnieszka Rynkiewicz to contribute to this book published in Polish in 2023. My contribution focuses on the first section, which includes a description of autism in females.