Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi! I’m a 19 year old autistic adult who’s almost completed her first year of university. Since turning 19 I’ve had the typical experience of feeling like things ‘shifted’ in my mind, just generally starting to see the world differently which I know is common as you reach young adulthood, and have seen this discussed a lot. However something I don’t see spoken about is how this relates to autistic young adults. As a teenager I had meltdowns every few weeks that involved screaming/crying/self-injurious behaviour/treating others poorly/going non-verbal etc etc. However since coming to university, this has only happened twice and even then they were much less intense as my previous meltdowns. This change was sudden, especially considering that just weeks before actually starting university I had 4 public meltdowns like this across 2 weeks at a summer programme for my now uni. This change makes me worry a lot about the validity of my autism, even though I’ve been diagnosed for almost 2 years now. I was wondering if anyone knows if my experience is common, and expected as one transitions from an autistic teenager to an autistic adult?
Mine have increased with age but then I'm under far more stress and pressure now than I was ten years ago when I was 12. Adulthood is difficult. There's no support out there. We've got to fend for ourselves and sadly the result is often meltdowns and burnout. The transition from teen to adult isn't smooth for many people, you're entering the real world and it's a scary place x.