Fig. 1.

The “Male-Lens” in Clinical Practice and Research in Autism. The male-based knowledge of autism and poor understanding of how autism presents in females is largely based on clinical practice and research primarily involving males given (1) the male predominance in prevalence and (2) females are often under-recognized and diagnosed individuals frequently present with co-occurring disorders (e.g., epilepsy) and low intelligence quotient and thus are more likely to be excluded from studies. This figure illustrates the concept of the “male-lens” in the field, which also largely reflects sex bias in autism since there is a lack of data pertaining to gender.