That post diagnostic feeling

Maybe I'm odd  but now I've got the diagnosis I'm not ecstatic or anything.  It's just a 'Well I was right all along" feeling .  I'm still the same person ,warts and all,than I was before.

It's not as though there has been a sea change or anything.  I think this may be due to the awareness that there's little out there for adults , and I can't see how this is going to affect me going forwards.

Parents
  • One of the reason I sought a diagnosis was that there was this big unanswered question I had about myself. In fact for years, i wasn't even sure what the question was. It was like everyone around me "gets it" and I don't.

    A couple of years before thinking I was on the spectrum, I thought it was some sort of of auditory processing disorder. Just coming to that realisation was such a relief but then it came to nothing. I only got that feeling again when i started to realise that I had so much in common with other people with autism. So recieving the actual diagnosis was like you said a "well I was right" kinda feeling.

    The benefit of diagnosis really comes when you start reflecting on past situations and you're able to say "Right, I can understand it now." Late-diagnosis really is all about knowing yourself better and being able to understand who you are. I do feel regret that I didn't get diagnosed earlier and I genuinely feel I could have made so much more of myself. But I am happy with who I am especially now that I know I am autistic.

  • I do feel regret that I didn't get diagnosed earlier and I genuinely feel I could have made so much more of myself

    I wonder that too. I think if I'd been given the dx in 1994 when I was 37 it would have made some difference I think. It would probably have meant a better relationship with the mental health professionals as they would have had a better idea of what makes me tick.

    Perhaps it's the wrong way to look at it, but I'm trying to see what difference it will make in concrete terms , as opposed to knowing why I am as I am.

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  • I do feel regret that I didn't get diagnosed earlier and I genuinely feel I could have made so much more of myself

    I wonder that too. I think if I'd been given the dx in 1994 when I was 37 it would have made some difference I think. It would probably have meant a better relationship with the mental health professionals as they would have had a better idea of what makes me tick.

    Perhaps it's the wrong way to look at it, but I'm trying to see what difference it will make in concrete terms , as opposed to knowing why I am as I am.

Children
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