ABSTRACT
There is an identified need for specific support for trans and gender diverse young people who are also autistic. However, health professionals frequently lack awareness and training on trans health, bodies and identities, and there are also gaps in knowledge and service provision for young autistic people. This chapter examines the ways in which gender diversity intersects with autism in the narratives of health professionals working with trans and gender diverse young people, and how the limitations in the current healthcare system might produce additional barriers for young people who are autistic and gender diverse. The chapter explores the extent to which the existing healthcare model for young trans and gender diverse people takes autism into account. It also asks the critical question of what ideas and understandings of both gender diversity and autism are reproduced when the two are held together and analysed in relation to one another.
Keywords: gender identity, autism, trans health, health services for transgender persons, young people
