I have looked at your website and if it is helpful to you and others who are on the autism spectrum, that’s wonderful. What I don’t understand is why you disparage ‘high sensitivity’ like it’s not a real trait. Why can’t both be true? Why can’t it be true that many women who are high functioning on the spectrum are often misdiagnosed and the trait of high sensitivity can also exist? Or that they likely exist together in some people?

I applaud your advocacy, the only thing I don’t applaud is having to disparage one set of research in order for another to grow. For millions of people who resonate with the research of Elaine Aron and over 100 other researchers, learning about their trait, based on the four common characteristics that emerged from tens of thousands of research participants and realizing they are just fine as they are, is life changing.

I hope the same is true as you advocate for more research for women on the spectrum. We have an opportunity to pull together, rather than divide.

Being dismissive and disparaging of highly sensitive people feels the same as someone misdiagnosing you, if that makes sense.

I know about this personally, as I am also what I call an extremely sensitive person, or an empath. A person who senses shifts in mental, emotional, physical, environmental, collective and spiritual energy.

There is zero research on my lived experiences and those of millions of others like me. Yet, I don’t feel a need to make you wrong so I can be right. And, I also believe each person should self-identify with what feels right to them, no one should feel forced into a category because someone creates a list on a website or in the DSM.