Is there a correlation between transsexualism and autism?

I am trans and very active in a large community of trans people in my home city. I haven’t noticed any correlation with autism; I know of two trans people who are diagnosed with Aspergers, but the ratio doesn’t seem to be any higher than it is amongst the non-trans people I know.

I also don’t agree that trans people have a higher than average IQ, though I suspect that in some parts of the world, negotiating the legal and medical maze of transition perhaps favours those who are more intelligent and therefore more able to fight for their rights.

I have heard it said anecdotally that transmen (female-to-male) are more likely than average to be on the autism spectrum but I have not seen any actual studies about it.

That’s cool. I am not really out for cold hard facts in this question. I was just trying to pick people brains a little seeing how I currently don’t really know any trans people personally yet and am still living as a man till I enough have money. So a lot of questions pop in my mind all the time.

No. No actual relationship there. Just because you have an above average IQ it holds NO baring that you are autistic. Most autistic people I know are more a-sexual and the concept of sex and sexuality goes in the same basket as religion. They don’t get it or understand it and don’t practice it.

> …the concept of sex and sexuality goes in the same basket as religion. They don’t get it or understand it and don’t practice it.

What an interesting observation, @cazzie! I wonder if that is borne out by any formal research. It’s a correlation I never would have guessed at. It comes at the possible parallels between sexuality and religion from the opposite angle to the usual.

The incidence of 7.8% ASD in gender identity clinic referred children and adolescents is ten times higher than the prevalence of 0.6–1% of ASD in the general population (Baird et al. 2006; Fombonne 2005). This important finding confirms the clinical impression that ASD occurs more frequently in gender dysphoric individuals than expected by chance. [Source]

In my experience in discussing sexuality with support groups I admin on, I can tell you that from the ASDers I know (ASDer=person on the Autism Spectrum), most are non-conformists in life. Many do not fit into stereotypical gender roles. While there is a greater percentage of asexual individuals, there is also a greater percentage of LGBTs, as well. For those that have more conventional sexuality, there is often less convention either within the roles of their marriage or in their family dynamics.

Sexuality has largely been ignored in studying of ASDers. One reason behind this was a long standing and perpetuated myth that autistics never held relationships successfully. There is still an often spread myth that 80% of ASD marriages end in divorce. In reality ASD marriages tend to fall into the same stats as neurotypical (non-autistics) marriage.

@SpatzieLover thanks for the link to the study. Interesting stuff.

Anytime @downtide. I do a lot of support in this area, so I have access to a lot of studies for ASD

Probably.