Why can’t you just be like the other children? Late diagnosed or self diagnosed adults, Can we forgive parents?

Hi, a really good question was asked earlier in the week about our earliest childhood memories. Most seemed to be how we had been taken to different events and were unable to join in. A thread that I noticed was that as late diagnosed or self diagnosed we seem unable to forgive parents for how we were treated. The usual, “ don’t show me up” or “why are you so awkward”?, the one I can still hear is, “your a strange child” these  are just a few of the instances that a lot of us endured. This was whilst we didn’t know why we couldn’t  identify with other children either. I find I just can’t forgive my remaining parent, my mother. I fully understand that no one had any knowledge of autism but I just find it very hard to forgive the verbal and sometimes physical punishments that were handed out. I actually keep contact now to a minimum. I don’t know if I’m being “out of order”  or making too much of this, I am still processing a lot of my childhood, a lot of these memories still haunt me and just find it very hard to forgive and forget.  Your thoughts on this would be appreciated.

Parents
  • I was always the loser in my family compared to my successful siblings. Didn’t do well in school, sports, hold down a job or even maintain friends or relationships. Being diagnosed with ASD or is it ASC as apparently condition has less stigma than disorder at the age of 62 it does help me understand why now and that it wasn’t necessarily my fault.

Reply
  • I was always the loser in my family compared to my successful siblings. Didn’t do well in school, sports, hold down a job or even maintain friends or relationships. Being diagnosed with ASD or is it ASC as apparently condition has less stigma than disorder at the age of 62 it does help me understand why now and that it wasn’t necessarily my fault.

Children
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