Just been diognosed heard all negitive not positive

I agree,

I know how to be a bully, after all I had so many teachers, but I choose not to

except that forgetting about feelings of other, I caught myself on it few times in my life

People who bully others usually feel insecure or vulnerable themselves.

not entirely sure on that. those that are bullied often can become the bully themselves, and often can be less caring of others situation if they have suffered worse and view what others are going through as less than what they themselves went through. also those that are bullied and made to feel alone can view everyone in general as the type that would have bullied them and thus not care for those people being bullied due to feeling that theyd have probably been one that would have bullied them. which in turn a person bullied can remain shut off and not have empathy for others.

Yes the autistic community is very accepting and a safe space because many autistic people have previously been ostracised or bullied for their neurotype, they need to feel a stronger sense of belonging.

Personally I think the autistic community is great as I can empathise and relate to other  people and I don’t have to explain anything to anyone, I can just be.

It is largely positive but it helps if the people around you are supportive and accept the differences in thinking and behaving. Unfortunately, a lot of people aren't but we don't know that until there's a reaction to something you say, do, behave, your expressions, your gestures etc. It can be a bit of a minefield as it's not fully accepted everywhere and especially so with people who tend to be in charge or have authority eg employers, police, healthcare professionals etc. It can be just good fortune if you're surrounded by decent folk but that's not guaranteed and we need to be mindful of that.

Pop, I've been spending some time talking to autistic people on forums and in person recently, and one thing that strikes me is that almost all the people I've come across are very accepting. By my (admittedly rough accounting), it seems that a much smaller percentage of the autistic population is prejudiced against people because of their ethnicity or sexuality, for example, compared to non-autistics. Many autistic people also seem rational, honest, loyal, and empathetic, although they might struggle to express empathy. I think there are a great number of benefits.

Unknown said:

worked out quickly how to improve processes

i do that too

i don't tell them right away until it's so busy it would help to get some help

they wanted me back all colleagues and managers lower rank to previous job,. but woman on top didn't like me, because i did not bow to her

i did not have any real bonus for making improvements, except fondness

my bluntness does not like moderation :P

Yesterday I had a HR job interview on Meets 45min long, using my new approach - no masking. I have qualifications to be accountant, skills to be programist, so they only partially overlap, and no experience in any of those. But they called me to tell i did not get it instead of sending email. 

maybe oneday

The benefits are things like good memory, well organised, see things differently to most and having a different idea of how to live your life. The issues are mental health issues tend to be worse for people on the Spectrum, people will sometimes think you are odd and employers will often not understand you. These are the basics, at least to me.

However: you can get support more easily when you need it, it is now a legal right to have workplaces adapt to make things easier for you and, lets be clear here, there is nothing actually wrong with you. You are different to other people, just like you always were. This just adds to that. It's a whole wide world out there where you can find things to enjoy doing and a place to work you'll love.

Go look. You'll be pleasantly surprised, hopefully.

[ Autism Diagnosis Pro's ]

Evidence of autism can get you access to appropriate benefits, such as universal credit standard allowance and limit capability to work allowance. It can give enough evidence to support a PIP claim (this one is difficult but more evidence the most likely to win the appeal). It can get you access to employment support through schemes created by local authority. It can stop you from being wrongful sectioned and trapped in a mental health hospital years on end. Disclosing it with employer can protect you equality act (it can also make it difficult to be employed through traditional routes). It can help you access special education measures if you pursue education. It can assist with getting support workers when your in your darkest moment in life.      

Yes i'M 42

Masking turned into 2nd skin. That lives on its own and have no idea about rules. Alexythmia means your body is doing body language but you don't understand it

Thank you so much everyone. I have found where I belong and feel a bit better too. Do thank you so much.

Hi.  Don't dwell on the diagnosis or report, choose to feel that you are just different, neurodiverse and not a set of negative traits.  It shouldn't be this way, but anything we don't do 'normally' is marked as a negative - one day it might change, hopefully.  There are benefits, but a diagnosis by itself doesn't change much - you have to get to know your true self, make changes if you can/need, and try and get through life as best you can.  Diagnosis is just the first step on your autism journey.

I have similar

Indeed!

First and foremost: Congratulations on your diagnosis :-)

And Hell yes! There are positives about being autistic!

Don't get me wrong, mine has also brought me a shed load of problems to over come in life, and weirdly medical phobias that almost killed me. So each of us in our own way has more than our fair share of s**t.  But you know, the sweetest thing that any one said to me on this forum when I got my diagnosis recently was: "You know you have superpowers, don't you?". Lol.

This is going to take a while to process. You are going to have a thousand little 'ahhhahh' moments over the innocuous but odd stuff about your life, a thousand tears for the pain it brought, (mostly because you live in an NT world that doesn't get it), but also I promise, there are things about you that are different in a good way that are so positive and you have them BECAUSE you are autistic. And they are your gift to the world. There will be pain. There will be compensations. 

You are brilliant. You are you. Own it. It ain't all bad, I promise.

I thought I would add another comment as I think this graphic is very good. Being autistic is very different to how professionals describe it, it’s a very personal experience. I think this graphic perfectly illustrates why being autistic is cool.

https://www.instagram.com/b_alexa_autism/p/CV8Bu5rsZpc/?utm_medium=share_sheet

Personally I love the fact that I can hyper focus on anything I am interested in.

I think that the problem lies with the diagnostic process and the (very limitied and out of date?) diagnostic criteria from the ever-expanding DSM.  All very pathologising and very little on our strengths.  It threw me for a bit because the focus was definitely on the negatives but I believe the reality is rather different and I'm coming to a more settled view with the help of groups and websites that are autistic-led (Ausome Training, Kristy Forbes, The Autistic Advocate, Aucademy and more).   

These days I'm wondering whether it would have been healthier for me to simply self identify and bypass the medicalised deficit model of diagnosis.

The autistic brain is amazing. Professionals only  use negative language instead because they refer to the medical model and restrictive diagnostic criteria. You can embrace being autistic by spending more time connecting with the autistic community and relating to lived experience.

Hi Pop! 

I think one of the big benefits to getting an official diagnosis is so that you can get support when or if it's ever needed, or maybe accommodations in the workplace.  So whoever wrote the diagnosis report might be working on that assumption as well - in which case, they probably only felt the need to highlight the negatives.  Awesome for anyone's self esteem...not!

In reality, you're a complete human being with just as many strengths.  We just need to work those out for ourselves, because we're all so different from each other.

I hope you're able to see what your strengths are once you've had a bit of time to process what's in the report.

theres no negative nor positives, you are who you are and you remain who you was. only you can tell us the positives and negative of being you.