I think I'm autistic

I found a very late diagnosis - aged 59 - was very useful for me, even though I worked for 34 years as a scientific researcher, not an undemanding job, and am married with two children (both neurodivergent). I have received no practical support since being diagnosed, but the diagnosis was a validation of my experiences through life. I was not a neurotypical person with a lot of strange individual quirks and limitations, but an autistic person whose abilities and difficulties were directly related to my autism. Without a clinical diagnosis my identification as autistic would always have felt uncertain and possibly wrong. I like certainty, in itself an autistic trait.

Autistic people who appear to function in 'neurotypical society' still have problems, which is why so many of us have poor mental health. 

Poor mental health is quite common in "normies" too. Maybe the line is between shaping vs defining ones life I infer from your answer.It seems there is a lot of myth about normies among the autistic community if I may raise this issue. 

A cursory online search found this:

"The percentage of autistic people with mental health problems was more than 4.5 times higher (51.1%) than in people without an autism diagnosis (11.3%). More than 25% of autistic people further received two or more diagnoses of mental health problems."

I would add that I have lived for almost all of my life believing that I was neurotypical, I thought that my traits, that I now recognise as autistic, were just personal to me. I have no axe to grind about neurotypical people themselves, though I have doubts about aspects of the society they have created.

I do not use 'high-functioning' as a label for myself, I identify as autistic, but if pushed I use circumlocutions like 'less overtly autistic', however, in conversation I sometimes use the former phrase as it is more universally understood. I have no interest in defining gradations of autism or separating people by their use.

Though no one I told about my autism diagnosis had any prior inkling that I might be autistic, being autistic has had profound effects on my life. From the panic attack I had in my first A level exam, through my inability to connect with the opposite sex for very many frustrating years, to my paralysing fear of public speaking, which stopped me applying for lectureships, my autism has had many adverse effects. I believe that I fully deserved my clinical diagnosis and that it was entirely appropriate

People who can describe what it is like to be autistic have a duty to be advocates for those autistics who are unable to. 

I am sincerely happy you enjoy this identity part and wish we work together to expand that autistic pride feeling! I only wear plain cotton with no sticker, always walk on the shadow side of streets, jump and have goose bumps on my legs when an unexpected strong noise arise, I easily enter flow state in which I become blind to hunger, temperature and time etc.. but I do not define myself as autistic out of sensitivity issues. I can identify emotions in myself and others and use them properly, have no obvious stimming and so on, I have enough emotional self-control to overcome my "small" hyper-sensitivity. Without having a son with extreme sensitivity issues I would likely give more weight to mine but I know how to use them so I am fine with them. I however use this sensitivity as an extrapolation to try and understand my son so we need people like you! As for defining oneself "high functioning"  I understand that when someone has been put aside they need this label to feel better with themselves, the limit being feeling superior to other autistics as this would be a "normie" elitists value. Many traits are common between high functionning autism and high potential Intellectual. We would all win in trying and develop emotionnal intelligence from both sides normies and autistics, that's the bridge I am trying to build and I damned know it is easier for normies!  Our society is not promoting emotionnal intelligence quite the opposite whereas it is the key to overcome mental health issues.  

I am sincerely happy you enjoy this identity part and wish we work together to expand that autistic pride feeling! I only wear plain cotton with no sticker, always walk on the shadow side of streets, jump and have goose bumps on my legs when an unexpected strong noise arise, I easily enter flow state in which I become blind to hunger, temperature and time etc.. but I do not define myself as autistic out of sensitivity issues. I can identify emotions in myself and others and use them properly, have no obvious stimming and so on, I have enough emotional self-control to overcome my "small" hyper-sensitivity. Without having a son with extreme sensitivity issues I would likely give more weight to mine but I know how to use them so I am fine with them. I however use this sensitivity as an extrapolation to try and understand my son so we need people like you! As for defining oneself "high functioning"  I understand that when someone has been put aside they need this label to feel better with themselves, the limit being feeling superior to other autistics as this would be a "normie" elitists value. Many traits are common between high functionning autism and high potential Intellectual. We would all win in trying and develop emotionnal intelligence from both sides normies and autistics, that's the bridge I am trying to build and I damned know it is easier for normies!  Our society is not promoting emotionnal intelligence quite the opposite whereas it is the key to overcome mental health issues.  

I do not use 'high-functioning' as a label for myself, I identify as autistic, but if pushed I use circumlocutions like 'less overtly autistic', however, in conversation I sometimes use the former phrase as it is more universally understood. I have no interest in defining gradations of autism or separating people by their use.

Though no one I told about my autism diagnosis had any prior inkling that I might be autistic, being autistic has had profound effects on my life. From the panic attack I had in my first A level exam, through my inability to connect with the opposite sex for very many frustrating years, to my paralysing fear of public speaking, which stopped me applying for lectureships, my autism has had many adverse effects. I believe that I fully deserved my clinical diagnosis and that it was entirely appropriate

People who can describe what it is like to be autistic have a duty to be advocates for those autistics who are unable to.