The Irish State’s National Gender Service has admitted that current data indicates “over 50%” of those seeking gender assessment in Ireland have autism, and that “this number is increasing.”
The remarks were made by Dr. Karl Neff, Consultant Endocrinologist and Clinical Lead at the National Gender Service, in response to a query by Independent TD Carol Nolan.
“I was asked to comment on a Parliamentary Question with respect to the link between autism, gender dysphoria, and gender incongruence,” he said, adding that this was a “well documented” phenomenon.
“The increased prevalence of autism and neurodiversity in the transgender population is well documented, and has been shown in a number of research studies globally,” he continued.
“At the National Gender Service, audit data in 2019 demonstrates that 10% of people seen for initial assessment had a pre-existing diagnosis of autism, and an additional 24% had clinical features of autism on clinical assessment. Therefore, at least 34% of people attending us for initial assessment in 2019 either had a pre-existing diagnosis of autism, or had clear feature of autism.”
He added: “Current audit data indicate that this number is increasing, and is currently over 50%.I trust the above is useful in answering this query.”