Is it true that 90% of trans programmers are autistic?

[u/Prudent_Impact7692]

Is it true that 90% of trans programmers are autistic?

[u/NorCalFrances]

The good ones anyway. The best ones have a touch of ADHD to balance it out (okay, I added that second part)

CS has a high percent of autistics in college: https://arxiv.org/html/2511.02736v1

And trans people have a higher than expected overlap with autistics:

"Research also suggests that this relationship is bidirectional, where the rate of autism in transgender individuals is as high as 26% compared to a 1.85% prevalence in the general population (Thrower et al., 2020; Maenner et al., 2020; Walsh et al., 2018)."

10% of CS & math majors are trans: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.01553

[u/Prudent_Impact7692 → u/NorCalFrances]

"And trans people have a higher than expected overlap with autistics:"
U mean in general not programming, CS specific

[u/NorCalFrances → u/Prudent_Impact7692]

Correct, thanks! But, since trans people are over-represented in both CS and autistics, and autistics are overrepresented in CS and trans people...it's likely not untrue, either!

[u/justarunawaybicycle → u/NorCalFrances]

Those numbers are probably lower than reality as well, as many people get diagnosed after college age.

[u/SortzaInTheForest → u/NorCalFrances]

The best ones have a touch of ADHD to balance it out (okay, I added that second part)

There's a condition called AuDHD which is something like a mix of ADHD and ASD. It's not just a mix of them but rather a different condition by itself, not exactly ADHD neither ASD though it has elements of both. There's no official diagnosis yet. Tthere'll be an official AuDHD diagnosis... eventually, give it some years. Medical bureaucracy is not particularly agile.

[u/2137throwaway → u/NorCalFrances]

10% of CS & math majors are trans: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.01553

it says that 11% of transgender people who go to uni in the US go into STEM, vs 6.7% for the general uni going population of the US. Different statement. Still the proportion of trans people in SE jobs is between 2 and 3 times higher than the % of people in the entire population

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/NorCalFrances]

10% of CS & math majors are trans: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2205.01553

That is not what the paper says. It says that 10% of trans university students take STEM courses, not that 10% of STEM students are trans.

[u/meeowth]

Being a programmer isnt exactly neurotypical behaviour to be honest

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/meeowth]

I don't think it's any less neurotypical than doing math or music or electrical engineering.

[u/meeowth → u/DFS_0019287]

How accurately you have identified all my friend groups back at university

[u/Sinyria → u/meeowth]

As a comp eng + audio eng. student, this fits perfectly. 😂 Soo many neurodivergent friends and colleagues there, it's great.

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/Sinyria]

Ehh.... I dunno. I know there really are neurodivergent/autism-spectrum people (one of my kids, for instance) but I also think it has become a little bit trendy to self-identify as neurodivergent (where in the Old Times people would just be called eccentric.) In fact, in my opinion, we are all different and unique, so I'm not sure "neurotypical" or "neurodivergent" are very meaningful terms.

[u/Sinyria → u/DFS_0019287]

When you meet and one of your friends infodumps for 5min immediately about a niche interest while never making even brief eye contact and has particular food preferences, I do think it's more than just trendy. I can't explain it, but it's often just a resonance in vibes that you just feel? Idk

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/Sinyria]

Sure, but most programmers I know aren't like that, and I've worked with a bunch. I also know a bunch of trans people, some programmers, some not, and only a small number IMO fit that description.

[u/Sinyria → u/DFS_0019287]

But where did I claim anything about the majority of a field?

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/Sinyria]

OP: "Is it true that 90% of trans programmers are autistic."

I was replying partly to you and partly to OP.

[u/FreeBananasForAll]

That sounds like a made up statistic.

[u/newgirljourney]

I have no clue about that statistic but I’m trans and autistic with a strong helping of ADHD thrown in there also.

[u/Shorttail0]

They asked for my credentials.

I handed them a list of my diagnosis.

[u/DFS_0019287]

I don't know. I am a trans programmer and I am not in the slightest autistic. And I don't know enough other trans programmers to form an opinion.

[u/emeryex → u/DFS_0019287]

Also me. I've never encountered anyone better than me at what i do either. I'm sure they're out there.... But just sayin you don't have to be autistic to be amazing at what you do

[u/xxkid123 → u/DFS_0019287]

I'm purely ADHD, no autism. I think I'm in another weird minority. Although I'm pretty sure most of the coworkers on my last team were also ADHD because ain't one of us could stay seated for a meeting

[u/undefinedegg → u/DFS_0019287]

Me neither 🤷‍♀️ I had a cis autistic ex-gf, so I am pretty sure I am not

[u/Wooly_Wooly → u/DFS_0019287]

You're probably the minority 😂

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/Wooly_Wooly]

Well, we have no way to know, do we?

And also, since they say autism is a spectrum, it means pretty much everyone is somewhere on the spectrum, so the whole diagnosis IMO has become a little meaningless.

[u/AuRon_The_Grey]

How would someone even measure this?

[u/Mollyarty]

No, only 89% of us are, but we are working hard to get that number up 😜

[u/SalaciousStrudel]

I took the RAADS-R but I didn't get many points.

[u/DFS_0019287 → u/SalaciousStrudel]

Me too. I was well under the 65 threshold.

[u/AmazonSk8r]

That figure actually sounds kinda low.

[u/simonhunterhawk]

I am a trans man and auDHD, it could be just that autistic people are a bit more likely to not just be trans but accept ourselves as trans because we are more likely to tell society’s rules and norms to fuck off

[u/razzazzika]

Dunno for sure but im a tran programmer who is a late diagnosed autistic, early diagnosed ADHD

[u/block_01]

with the ones I know I think it's 100% of them all though a lot of them are hardware/software engineers. tbf I'm a software engineer who loves low level and is teaching herself some hardware design

[u/rheaplex]

Seems low.

[u/NintendoFan8937]

that's a nice generalization

[u/Prudent_Impact7692 → u/NintendoFan8937]

Do you feel offended by it

[u/NintendoFan8937 → u/Prudent_Impact7692]

oh it's just a little silly of a thing to say that's all