Gender Differences in the First Impressions of Autistic Adults.
Autistic men are hit hardest by snap negative judgments, so short face-to-face moments can quietly bar them from jobs and services.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Cage et al. (2019) asked non-autistic people to give first-impression ratings of autistic adults. The raters watched short video clips, listened to audio only, or read written transcripts.
Each rater scored how likable, trustworthy, and employable the adult seemed. The team then compared scores for autistic men, autistic women, and non-autistic adults.
What they found
Autistic men got the harshest scores. Raters judged them less likable and less hirable after just a few seconds of sound or video.
The negative effect was large and depended on the format: video hurt the most, transcripts the least. Autistic women were rated slightly better than autistic men, but still worse than non-autistic adults.
How this fits with other research
Bassett-Gunter et al. (2017) found almost no gender gap inside autism on symptom tests or IQ. That looks like a contradiction, but it isn’t: Eilidh measured snap social judgments, not clinical traits. The two studies simply show that observers, not clinicians, treat autistic men more harshly.
Block et al. (2026) extended the idea by adding race. They found Black autistic men were liked more than White autistic men, proving that first-impression bias is intersectional, not just about autism plus gender.
Emerson et al. (2023) repeated the basic effect in mock job interviews. Autistic candidates scored low on video yet high when only the transcript was seen, confirming that social style cues drive the penalty.
Why it matters
If you run intake interviews, job trials, or social-skills groups, know that brief samples can unfairly sink autistic males. Swap early video calls for text resumes, or add structured work samples before face-to-face meetings. This small change gives autistic adults a fairer shot and keeps you from missing good clients, employees, or students.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Prior research has shown that less favourable first impressions are formed of autistic adults by non-autistic observers. Autistic females may present differently to autistic males and could engage in more camouflaging behaviours, which could affect these first impressions. However, research has not yet tested for gender differences in the first impressions of autistic adults. In the current study, non-autistic observers (n = 205) viewed either 10-sec video clips or text transcripts in the context of a mock job interview by 10 autistic females and 10 autistic males, matched to 10 non-autistic females and 10 non-autistic males. They then rated each stimulus on personality traits (e.g., awkwardness) and behavioural intentions (e.g., "I would start a conversation with this person"). Non-autistic observers were blind to diagnostic status of the individuals in either modality. Results showed that first impressions were less favourable overall of autistic adults in the video modality. Furthermore, autistic females were rated more favourably than autistic males in the video modality across most traits-but autistic females were also rated less favourably than both non-autistic females and males. Some judgements were also made in the text modality, whereby more favourable first impressions were made of autistic males on the basis of speech content. Understanding the first impressions that both autistic females and males make has important implications for diagnostic services and employment prospects. Autism Res 2019, 12: 1495-1504. © 2019 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. LAY SUMMARY: We found that non-autistic people formed more negative first impressions of autistic people, and this was influenced by gender of the person being evaluated. Autistic women were judged more favourably than autistic men; however, both autistic women and men were rated less positively than non-autistic people, with large differences between judgements of autistic females in comparison to non-autistic females. The findings have implications for clinicians and employers who may make rapid judgements based on someone's gender.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2019 · doi:10.1002/aur.2191