Are there any women here?

Hello.  Thank you for the discussion. I came on here initially for my son who has a ASD diagnosis.  The drs unofficially diagnosed me too! I've been browsing the forums and they have given me so much support as a parent and much to my surprise for me too! I'm 38 and work in a school. 

It seems to be a common theme (amongst those of us with children anyway) that people attend assessments for their kids, and end up with the psychologist asking them if they have ever considered that they may be on the spectrum.

I didn't find out until I was 46, although my grandfather had Asperger's (not a diagnosis in his day, but if you knew him, undisputable!) and my mother can now see a lot of similarities since finding out more following my diagnosis. The slightly sad thing is that he passed away before I found out, and I think my mum beats herself up a bit about times when she was intolerant of him/his feelings, not knowing at the time what he was dealing with, or how it affected him. 

In my humble opinion, it's good to know, if only for the sake of self-awareness! It also helps those around us to understand when we might be struggling, where they might otherwise be unaware of what is going on. On the bright side, chances are you will be well placed to understand any struggles that your son has, having gone through them (even unknowingly) yourself!

Hi moggsy, this happened to me. I'm a 62 year old woman self diagnosed, I took my son to a psychologist when he was 3 as he was showing lack of communication traits like my childhood. This was the first time I had heard of Aspergers it was 1991 and the psychologist suggested I also had it. My son is now 29, he had a tough time and attended the NAS help to work course a few years ago. Thankfully he now has his first job as a care worker which he enjoys and has been doing for the last 8 months and he is very good at it.

3 years ago I had trouble working full time as I was too tired, went down to 4 days, at 60 finding I was still too tired took 3 day job and got sacked after 3 weeks and ended up loose leaf updating and then dogsitting for 2 years. Sadly Dexter the dog passed away in Dec, so I went on ESA for 20 years depression......failed health assessment as mobile...got kicked off ESA....now on jobseekes and totally stressed out by it. I've just enrolled last monday on a 2 day 18 week social care course so I now have to sign off and do some course work before my next nap ha ha!

I recommend the book mentioned before "Women and Girls with Autistic Spectrum Disorder" Understanding life experiences from early childhood to old age by Sarah Hendrickx who is on the spectrum. 

I wish my very best to all of you on this forum and I hope the good moments in life help with the struggles.

xxx

Hi moggsy, this happened to me. I'm a 62 year old woman self diagnosed, I took my son to a psychologist when he was 3 as he was showing lack of communication traits like my childhood. This was the first time I had heard of Aspergers it was 1991 and the psychologist suggested I also had it. My son is now 29, he had a tough time and attended the NAS help to work course a few years ago. Thankfully he now has his first job as a care worker which he enjoys and has been doing for the last 8 months and he is very good at it.

3 years ago I had trouble working full time as I was too tired, went down to 4 days, at 60 finding I was still too tired took 3 day job and got sacked after 3 weeks and ended up loose leaf updating and then dogsitting for 2 years. Sadly Dexter the dog passed away in Dec, so I went on ESA for 20 years depression......failed health assessment as mobile...got kicked off ESA....now on jobseekes and totally stressed out by it. I've just enrolled last monday on a 2 day 18 week social care course so I now have to sign off and do some course work before my next nap ha ha!

I recommend the book mentioned before "Women and Girls with Autistic Spectrum Disorder" Understanding life experiences from early childhood to old age by Sarah Hendrickx who is on the spectrum. 

I wish my very best to all of you on this forum and I hope the good moments in life help with the struggles.

xxx