/ Many people are claiming that autism is now “a pandemic” due to the increase in diagnoses — that isn’t true, but it is definitely true of racism. “Racist Spectrum Disorder” is unfortunately affecting many people and taking lives for real.

Autism is gaining visibility. Increasing attention is being given to the issue of gender and the fact that many autistic women and girls are missed due to gender stereotypes eclipsing the recognition of their autism. Tiktok is now flooding with videos that educate about these topics.

But what about race* and ethnicity?

Black people of any gender are more likely to have their autism misread as a myriad of things, from aggressiveness or defiance to accusations of “acting white.” Black and other racialized autistic people are being failed by society in so many ways — often facing multifaceted marginalization, with gender, race, class, and prejudice, compounding with the difficulties that already come with being autistic.

This is not to say that other autistic people don’t face poverty or cultural marginalization. They very much do. It is also not to say that racialized autistic people have to face compounded marginalization for their experience to be valid. But I think it is essential to recognize what specific role race can play in these dynamics — and how white autistic people can face very real struggles yet still be spared the need to fight through racism on top of it.

For much that the autistic community has progressed over the past years, the representation of the community in media and advocacy alike is still overwhelmingly white. This is obviously not because autistic people from other ethnicities don’t have things to say — it’s because of the systemic bias that gives more credit to white voices over non-white ones.

A recent example that sheds light on this issue: autistic actress Chloé Hayden published a video on Tiktok in which she mistakenly stated that the average life expectancy of autistic people is 35 years (the usual claim is 39 years, based on — please read the research before taking this claim at face value). Two autistic creators, one Black and one white, both pointed out that Hayden’s affirmation is quite a reductionist claim, and there are plenty of nuances to consider linked to how the research was conducted. I cannot find any of the original videos right now, so please forgive me if my post-burnout memory gets some details of the controversy wrong. The point is: the two creators were both saying the exact same things, but the feedback that they got from the internet was very different. The Black creator primarily got attacks and accusations, while the white one primarily got positive reactions. I believe that this shows quite well that the issue lies in which voices tend to be believed, respected, and listened to.

The issue of racial bias towards autistic people in various settings, from the medical sector to law enforcement to the education system and the job market, is crucially important for our community. What is also important, though, is that as a community, we start by paying attention to who is being given the chance to speak for the autistic experience and that we point out the gaps.

I say all of this as a white, AFAB autistic person. I can’t speak for the Black or otherwise racialized experience, but I can speak for the necessity of awareness and creating space and opportunities for non-white autistic people. I know that the journey that led me to be able to openly share the autistic point of view was a long and difficult one, and I faced many social and health challenges along the way. If I, as a white person with many kinds of privilege, feel like it took me superhuman strength just to come all the way here and build a chance to speak with my authentic voice, I can’t help but wonder: had I also been discriminated for my skin colour or my origins, what extra barriers would I have faced? How would that have affected my opportunities to exist authentically as an autistic person?

This is not about the fact that anyone, technically, can sign up on Medium and write. It’s about the forces that one has to face in voicing one's own authentic experience, rights, and perspective — in accessing social, economic, and emotional spaces. The Black, Brown, Asian, Indigenous, immigrant, Muslim — to mention some of the identities that are affected by racism — autistic experience is still very much marginalized, and I believe that white autistic people should be as aware as possible of these dynamics, both in and outside of themselves, if we wish to transform the autistic community in the direction of real equality, rather than perpetuating existing power dynamics. The onus of addressing these issues shouldn’t fall on racialized autistic people. After all, racism is a white problem (not exclusively, but you get what I mean). White people, we are, in a sense, the most racialized of all: so much that we are not even aware of it.

Being autistic can affect social and emotional awareness, and it can make it difficult to explore topics linked to social structure, like gender, race, or others. This is sometimes brought up by white autistic people as an argument about race being a neurotypical construct and, therefore, white autistic people being exempt from the need, or the ability, to hold awareness about it. I do wonder if a hypothetical 100% autistic world would have ever been able to create and enforce something like race or the most violent aspects of gender division. However, female autistic people won’t have a choice when it comes to becoming aware of gender norms and racialized autistic people also don’t have a choice as to their awareness of race because these concepts will be forcibly introduced into their lives by the rest of the world. To have the choice of blindness to these structures is a privilege for autistic and non-autistic people alike — even when that blindness is linked to an impairment. In fact, it could be argued that blindness is the glue that keeps these very structures in place.

The issue faced at present by the autistic community is, in essence, the disentangling of identity from the legacy of eugenics. That endeavour is inseparable from the decolonization and de-racialization of humanity. As we all face the legacy of this global monster, there is no separating the monster from all its parts — colonization, patriarchy, racism, capitalism, and ableism all share the same heart. The autistic community needs to hold space to express these intersections as loudly as possible to contribute to a radically different world.