Would your life have been different if you’d been diagnosed earlier?

Yes.  And I think that my life would have been much improved by understanding that I'm autistic much earlier on.  All of that desperate and often futile "self help" as I struggled to socialise and fit in.  And the constant mismatch between myself and what seemed to be expected, with me doing well at many of the things others found difficult, but then failing miserably at things they told me were "common sense".  And the almost constant masking and anxiety.

My only reservation about knowing earlier would be that there'd probably have been no understanding, support or acceptance from others.  So the whole culture of the 60s and 70s would have had to have changed, not just my knowledge of my own identity.  But even that would pale into insignificance when I consider the implications for my family.

For me the most important aspect of this hasn't been my own identity, it's been the wider effects within my family over generations.  If just one of us (and we're a large family) had been diagnosed, this might have alerted the rest.   This might have opened up the way for greater self understanding, appropriate help and support and the gradual healing of loads of intergenerational trauma. 

As it was, we were left in the dark, often running into unnecessary crises and disasters and developing some quite serious mental health issues along the way.  Make no mistake, unidentified autism, which in itself shouldn't have been a problem if the world were full of understanding and acceptance of difference, has led to some life-threatening scenarios.  And we're still trying to recover and undo some of the damage.  I don't even know whether it's possible, given the extent of the damage in our household.  But yes, knowing all of this earlier in life would have made a huge difference.        

Yes.  And I think that my life would have been much improved by understanding that I'm autistic much earlier on.  All of that desperate and often futile "self help" as I struggled to socialise and fit in.  And the constant mismatch between myself and what seemed to be expected, with me doing well at many of the things others found difficult, but then failing miserably at things they told me were "common sense".  And the almost constant masking and anxiety.

My only reservation about knowing earlier would be that there'd probably have been no understanding, support or acceptance from others.  So the whole culture of the 60s and 70s would have had to have changed, not just my knowledge of my own identity.  But even that would pale into insignificance when I consider the implications for my family.

For me the most important aspect of this hasn't been my own identity, it's been the wider effects within my family over generations.  If just one of us (and we're a large family) had been diagnosed, this might have alerted the rest.   This might have opened up the way for greater self understanding, appropriate help and support and the gradual healing of loads of intergenerational trauma. 

As it was, we were left in the dark, often running into unnecessary crises and disasters and developing some quite serious mental health issues along the way.  Make no mistake, unidentified autism, which in itself shouldn't have been a problem if the world were full of understanding and acceptance of difference, has led to some life-threatening scenarios.  And we're still trying to recover and undo some of the damage.  I don't even know whether it's possible, given the extent of the damage in our household.  But yes, knowing all of this earlier in life would have made a huge difference.