Despite autistic women being commonly compared to the colour-changing reptile, most of them can’t actually socially camouflage to save their lives, researchers have admitted.
“Autistic women are often likened to chameleons,” autism expert Dr. Karen Hoyland explained: “That is, if a chameleon got into a Lidl and decided to try and be a loaf of bread or a soft pretzel.”
Dr. Hoyland observed: “Growing up, girls seem to be particularly good at hiding their autism when nobody else seems especially arsed about them.”
Autistic woman Emma Bernard, 38, has been described as going “generally unnoticed” and “flying under the radar” growing up – despite having been bullied ceaselessly through primary school, having gotten extra bullied on non-uniform day and never having been able to hold down a job longer than five weeks.
Dr. Hoyland continued: “I mean. Just look at her. She refuses to take her Roman helmet off, for fuck’s sake.”
Bernard’s parents insisted they’d never noticed anything strange about their adult daughter, who could not be reached for comment, as she was down at the bottom of the garden looking for toads.
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