Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone!
My name's Sophie and I was diagnosed just days before my 21st birthday. If you're also late diagnosed, can you give me any tips or advice on where to go from here?
My friends and family are pretty supportive, I think my main difficulty is just understanding how to identify and meet my own needs.
Are there any steps to take to discover it or are there any ways to research and understand more?
I'd love to connect with people who are like me as only my partner is neurodivergent.
Maybe we have something in common e.g musicals, dinosaurs, age, gardening etc?
Everyone is different. My advice would be to read a bunch of books on the topic and maybe look at female-autism-focused books too as although there can be overlaps with male-autism, it can also be very different for each gender, I was not diagnosed til my mid-forties, it can be hard to wrap your head around exactly what is going on at first, it can help to read as much as you can wherever you can. It can take years really to come to terms with things, you never really stop learning.
Hello Sophie,
I wasn't diagnosed myself until I was 24.
I do have varied interests including musicals (I have seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, We Will Rock You).
Animal wise. I like the oddities out there, like tapirs, capybara, manatees etc.
I like all sorts of stuff, my current rabbit hole of choice are lonely the brave, placebo, really stuff that encourages on making me feel things. I also have hyper empathy syndrome which makes life more interesting.
How about you?
Music and animals are a love of mine too! What kind of music are you interested in?
I hope you receive the outcome you're looking/hoping for!
Thank you!
Ahh thank you for your comment! Gardening is so much fun, I got my first ever walk in greenhouse in April this year and it's been the best thing ever! Currently prepping it for winter vegetables. Good luck to you with your gardening!
Hi, I'm on the waiting list for diagnosis, I'm 52. I like sci-fi, music and animals, they seem to calm my inner noise.(for want of a better term)
Good luck
Im in the process of getting diagnosed, not sure what the outcome will be but I am 38! I am glad you have a good support system in place :)
Hi Sophie!
Congrats on the diagnosis. I received mine when I was 28 (1 yr ago) and found this forum to be a huge help, seeing other people experience similar things I did and how they managed. Outside of that I found just talking to people about it helpful and reflecting on things in my own life that I had struggled with and thinking about how I could make things easier for myself. (adjusting expectations of how social I should be!)
In other news... I love gardening! Doesn't feel like a chore at all and I would happily do it all day. Currently trying to give my lawn a new lease of life by scarifying and overseeding it... wish me luck!