Autism Science Foundation Weekly Science Report
Jun 28, 2026 · 20 min · 10 segments
Happy Pride! In honor of June, this week’s podcast focuses on the specific needs of those who are transgender or sexually diverse and also autistic. What is the prevalence of autism in those who are…
So the numbers or the rate of autism in those who are transgender or sexually diverse are calculated in two ways, just so you know.
The first one is to take a group of people with autism and count how many of them are transgender or sexually diverse.
The other is to take a group of people who are transgender or sexually diverse and count how many are autistic.
Starting with how many autistic people, let's say, are transgender or sexually diverse, the number ranges from about 11 to 15%.
Now, the one study I'm going to talk about puts the number at 5%, but mostly it's between 11 and 15%.
On the other hand, if you start out with people who are collected as being transgender or sexually diverse and then are screened or diagnosed with autism, that number is as high as 20%.
There's also some range in terms of whether or not the person is assigned female at birth and transgender or they're assigned male at birth and transgender, and I'm going to talk about that.
So anyway, if you're to look at the prevalence rate of autism in the population, it's about 2% to 3%, right? So anywhere between 11% and 20% is higher than that.
So the numbers or the rate of autism in those who are transgender or sexually diverse are calculated in two ways, just so you know.
The first one is to take a group of people with autism and count how many of them are transgender or sexually diverse.
The other is to take a group of people who are transgender or sexually diverse and count how many are autistic.
Starting with how many autistic people, let's say, are transgender or sexually diverse, the number ranges from about 11 to 15%.
Now, the one study I'm going to talk about puts the number at 5%, but mostly it's between 11 and 15%.
On the other hand, if you start out with people who are collected as being transgender or sexually diverse and then are screened or diagnosed with autism, that number is as high as 20%.
There's also some range in terms of whether or not the person is assigned female at birth and transgender or they're assigned male at birth and transgender, and I'm going to talk about that.
So anyway, if you're to look at the prevalence rate of autism in the population, it's about 2% to 3%, right? So anywhere between 11% and 20% is higher than that.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
