I honestly cannot believe I need to write this tweet, but women absolutely can be Autistic.

(2020 and this still needs pointing out, we still have a long way to go folks)

I’m not a woman, but I can name a few women who are Autistic and have done some AMAZING work;

@CarlyJonesMBE , for her tireless work on recognising the issues faced by women who are on the Spectrum, which she even received an MBE for!

@GretaThunberg , TIME’s person of the year, that is all.

@EDalmayne for her tireless work in protecting and safeguarding Autistic People from harmful and abusive “treatments” and exposing fraudsters trying to exploit vulnerable people for their own financial gain.

@Fi_ferris for her fantastic work with @AsIAmIreland , which has been superb and has made a huge difference here in Ireland. She is also an outstanding painter!

@Hannahgadsby , who has her own show on Netflix, and is a fantastic comedian!

@JustStimming , who is the president of ASAN who do amazing work in the USA

And these are just some of the people who are in the public eye, or who have been recognised in the media for their work.

There are literally countless numbers of Autistic Women across the globe, working on things that help to improve our lives, without a drop of recognition

There are also the Autistic Women out there who are just quietly getting on with their own lives, battling with their own personal struggles and difficulties, and they still face barriers at every step of the way, from Diagnosis to support services.

Look, I’m not going to even pretend I understand how tough it can be to be a women and Autistic.

I’m a white kid with glasses who worked with computers and is fascinated by machines, I’m literally the person people think about when they think about Autism.

As a result, I’ll never have someone saying to me “you can’t be Autistic” based upon my gender, or my appearance.

Many women do face that, and for many of them, it’s a daily fight just to have their very existence recognised