Published on 12, July, 2020
Are there any other people out there diagnosed late in life?
How has it affected your perception of yourself and the life you've led?
My ASD diagnosis has made me feel a lot calmer, and that my likes and dislikes have a justification.
It's also put many of my life experiences and difficulties into a context.
I now know why I have seemed different all my life, with the exception of a few people I know who are maybe odder than me ..
Hi, it is really interesting to read everyone's experiences here. I can relate to so much of it. I am a 40-year-old female, and have recently begun to suspect that I am on the spectrum. I have suffered with mental health issues much of my life, and have always felt 'odd' or 'out of place' in social settings, especially groups. Over the years I have put this down to everything from depression/anxiety to the results of an unconventional upbringing, but the more I learn about Autism, the more it makes sense of the way I feel - and even of things I'd never really thought about. My older brother is autistic, but it affected him in quite different ways, so it never occurred to me - nor my family, I presume - that I might also be autistic.
I am currently going through a really tough patch with my mental health, and accepting that maybe I can't keep 'pretending to be normal' and pushing myself to work when it exhausts me mentally and emotionally to the point where I can't cope with my husband and children, or anything else in my life. Whether it turns out to be ASD or not, I think I need to try to get a referral and some help/answers. It would be a comfort to have some kind of 'reason why' I am the way I am, rather than feeling like I'm just not trying hard enough.