The Gender Gap

Today we are honored to have our daughter Maria grace the cover the SARRC’s Outreach Magazine. She is the first girl to be on the cover since the magazine started in 2007.

When Maria was diagnosed with autism we were shocked. Her autism looks nothing like her brothers and although she exhibited some interesting behaviors we never thought that she was autistics too- I mean how many girls with autism do you know?

The face of autism is male. Let’s be honest. This is why when SARRC asked us if we would be okay with our daughter being on the cover of their magazine we said yes.

We need to change the face of autism.

We need to see this diagnosis as not just a male diagnosis.

We need to help other parents recognize that their daughters’ struggles might not just be her being bratty, stubborn, or a complete drama queen, but to see beyond these stereotypes we typically associate to little girls, and ask the question: Does my daughter have autism?

Please reach the full article here: https://autismcenter.org/outreach-magazine