Published on 12, July, 2020
I have came out to 4 people in my life about my autism so far. I have considered all of them as caring empathetic people. 2 of them were very nice, offering to listen to me since it's a lot of things in mind and lot of feelings. The other two had a reaction that surprised me. One said nothing but "thank you for sharing" and right after that asked me for a favor. It felt like this big reveal of mine ment nothing to them. The other one asked me "is it officially diagnosed?" And didn't respond to my answer only a day after writing a message "do you want to hang out?". I'm sad because of these reactions and I honestly don't know how to interpret them.. it felt like they don't care or understand how huge of a deal this is for me.. did anyone have similar experiences?
I told two friends, the first said,” I thought you was autistic.” He is severely dyslexic so is neurodiverse, the second one thought I was autistic as well and then revealed he was diagnosed 10 years ago as autistic. I told one neurotypical person who I thought would really understand, I got a pat on the back and told, “ We are all on the spectrum somewhere.” Family have been the hardest part, I now don’t tell them anything. My siblings treat it like the elephant in the room, i tried but it was very much I explained how autism affects me and I’m then told how it doesn’t. My mothers best one was,” No, autistic people don’t talk and stare at the wall.” My assessment forms and questionnaires were all accepted without parental input.
Its really interesting you say this. The support and affirming comments have come largely from others I would consider to be neurodivergent (some with diagnoses some with my own "radar") the ones who were more dismissive whether this be intentional or not have been the people I would consider "neurotypical". Your vibe is your tribe as they say.