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Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minorities with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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Abstract

We explored the health and health care experiences of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or queer (LGBTQ+) using data from a national, internet-based survey of adults with disabilities supplemented by focused interviews. LGBTQ+ respondents had significantly higher rates of mental illness, poor physical health days per month, and smoking compared to straight, cisgender respondents with ASD. LGBTQ+ respondents also reported much higher rates of unmet health care need, inadequate insurance provider networks, and rates of being refused services by a medical provider. Examining the intersection of LGBTQ+ identity and ASD reveals compounded health disparities that insurers and medical providers are not adequately addressing, particularly as individuals transition to the adult medical system.

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Acknowledgments

The National Survey on Health and Disability (NSHD) and national interviews are part of the Collaborative on Health Reform and Independent Living (CHRIL). CHRIL is funded by a 5-year Disability and Rehabilitation Research Program (DRRP) grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR, #90DP0075-01–00). The contents do not necessarily represent the policy of NIDILRR, ACL, HSS and you should not assume endorsement by the federal government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Health & Disability Policy Studies, University of Kansas, 1000 Sunnyside Ave, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Jean P. Hall & Noelle K. Kurth

  2. Department of Applied Behavioral Science, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Jean P. Hall & Brian A. Boyd

  3. Department of Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Kansas, 318 Blake Hall, 1541 Lilac Lane, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    Katie Batza

  4. Boston University School of Medicine, 72 East Concord St, Boston, MA, 02118, USA

    Carl G. Streed Jr.

  5. Center for Transgender Medicine & Surgery, Section of General Internal Medicine, Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Carl G. Streed Jr.

  6. Juniper Gardens Children’s Project, University of Kansas Life Span Institute, 444 Minnesota Ave, Ste 300, Kansas City, KS, 666101, USA

    Brian A. Boyd

Authors
  1. Jean P. Hall
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  2. Katie Batza
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  3. Carl G. Streed Jr.
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  4. Brian A. Boyd
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  5. Noelle K. Kurth
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Contributions

Study conception and design as well as data collection, analysis and interpretation were performed by JPH and NKK. The first draft of the manuscript was written by JPH and all authors read, edited, and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jean P. Hall.

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Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional Review Board at the University of Kansas (Study# 00004253) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Hall, J.P., Batza, K., Streed, C.G. et al. Health Disparities Among Sexual and Gender Minorities with Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 50, 3071–3077 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04399-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04399-2

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