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

NAS76602

Hello all,

Like a lot on here I was diagnosed later on in life, in my fifties and fairly recently. My daughter asked me if my life would have been different and would I go back and change it if I could. 

I had to think about this, and I’m still trying to work it out. My initial answer is yes I really do wish I’d have been diagnosed earlier and had educational plans in place and maybe not bullied as much and gotten my degrees a few years earlier than I did. 

BUT……

Im ok with who I am, and maybe my struggles are what made me who I am and maybe without struggles I’d not have built the resilience I have. 

I thought it was a good question. Do you guys wish you’d have been diagnosed earlier on in life? And if so would your life have been different to how it is now?

Parents

  • Like a lot of others here, I'm torn.  I would have liked to have had more support at school and university.  But I'm not sure what help would have been available at the time at the time or even now.  If I hadn't had to mask so much, I might not have had burnout and mental health crises through my twenties and early thirties and have a proper career now.  Then again, if I hadn't burnt out and decided to write a mental health blog, which became an 'getting an autism diagnosis' blog, I wouldn't have met my fiancee.  So perhaps on balance everything was for the best.  I just wish I could have learnt to accept myself, my flaws and my idiosyncrasies years ago.

Reply

  • Like a lot of others here, I'm torn.  I would have liked to have had more support at school and university.  But I'm not sure what help would have been available at the time at the time or even now.  If I hadn't had to mask so much, I might not have had burnout and mental health crises through my twenties and early thirties and have a proper career now.  Then again, if I hadn't burnt out and decided to write a mental health blog, which became an 'getting an autism diagnosis' blog, I wouldn't have met my fiancee.  So perhaps on balance everything was for the best.  I just wish I could have learnt to accept myself, my flaws and my idiosyncrasies years ago.

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