What exactly is autigender? I’ve seen it used a few times now but there’s several definitions and it’s really confusing.

candidlyautistic:

candidlyautistic:

Ok, so this is how I view autigender. I have feels and reasons why I define autigender this way, and if you would like to hear, send another ask.

Autigender is not explicitly saying that “My gender is autism” – it’s not about saying you are a boy, girl, enby, autism, whatever. It’s about your relationship with your gender.

Specifically, gender is a social construct. The primary deficit of autism includes difficulties interpreting and understanding social constructions. This means that we have a disability that inherently makes understanding gender part of our disability.

Because of this, we can have exceptionally complicated and unique understanding of what gender is, how it affects us, and how we express gender.

Autigender is a word that describes this unique, complicated relationship. So when a person is saying that they are autigender, what they are saying is more or less that their understanding of gender is fundamentally altered by their autism.

Because autigender describes the relationship with gender, an autigender person’s gender can be, well anything. Boy. Girl. Enby. Cis. Trans. Anything. Agender. Gender Nope.

So what about a person who says they are autigender, and that IS their gender? Well, I think this still describes the relationship with their gender – Specifically in this case, their autism affects their understanding to such a degree that they just can’t be any more descriptive with regards to gender. That leaves the only word they have – autigender.

The could just as easily say, I don’t know, or Gender Nope, or Genderless – and I know a lot of autistics that do.

For me personally, I have a pretty good grasp on my gender – but I don’t know exactly what my gender is. I call my self queer or gender queer or enby, but autigender does describe my relationship with my gender. I know a lot about my gender but there is a wall that I can’t get past and that wall is my understanding of gender – as it is influenced by my autism.

At first the whole idea of autigender made me really uncomfortable because I initially interpreted it as “autism is my gender.” It took a while to get used to, but autigender really clicked for me when I started viewing it as a relationship with gender.

I don’t personally identify as autigender, but it is fair to say that I am autigender. I have that wall, after all. Despite not identifying as autigender, I do fully support the idea of autigender – including its use as a neogender.

Understanding the nuances of autism and social constructs, when a person says “my gender is autism,” allows me to understand where that controversial statement comes from… That is, reaching the point where you understand that autism affects your gender and then… sometimes that’s all you figure out.

That’s okay. Sometimes, we just don’t get answers. And I think autigender is a perfectly wonderful way to communicate all of the the information in this post with a single word – autigender.

Today I attended my first professional conference as a speaker – Gender Infinity. I organized and planed the topic. It was called, “Not Quite Cis, Not Quite Trans: Medical and Social Gatekeeping in Autism.” This panel was a CEU (continuing education unit) for social works, educators, and autism services providers. It was attended by doctors, by psychologists, by therapists, and by autism activist.

This premise – this relationship between autism and gender – was the central focus.

Our community words and our community culture are working their way into the institutions that support us. They are listening to us. And they are starting to understand.

People shit on autigender all the damn time. The professionals? Well, they’re nodding their hands, their raising their hands, and they are asking, “How do I translate this idea into my profession so that I can meet my clients on their terms.”

This idea, this relationship with gender and how we view it, is not only important, but it is driving the evolution of standard of care and treatment of both autism and gender dysphoria for us.