Published on 12, July, 2020
How did people react to you telling them you have autism?
For me personally my family were mostly accepting and happy for me. My dad wasn't very supportive, he's never liked me much, always thought I was fussy and didn't try hard enough in things I do. At school I used to have meltdowns because of how stressful it was and I struggled with processing but my dad said I was overreacting and attention seeking. He's never understood.
My grandparents weren't very supportive either, though my Gramps was unbelievably supportive and happy for me which did surprise me. Gramps is now my best friend, my rock, I know I can turn to him no matter what about absolutely anything. We are so close. He's more of a dad to me than my own dad is, sad but true.
When I was attempting work I decided to tell one of my colleagues that I have autism. Her reply "you don't look autistic..." After that day I found my mind constantly trying to figure out what autism actually looks like. Me, apparently.
Overall telling people of my diagnosis was well received but there have been a few people who didn't unfortunately understand, or didn't try to understand. Most people though were supportive and happy for me.
I was diagnosed when I was 8. It's only when I was 20 that I began sharing it with others.
At first, I did get a lot of "I didn't even notice" type stuff. I took it as a compliment at the time but over time I realised they just wanted to ignore the autistic side of me.
Telling someone I'm autistic is the easy part. Explaining what kind of accommodations I may need is the hard part.
HMO said:Telling someone I'm autistic is the easy part. Explaining what kind of accommodations I may need is the hard part.
Absolutely! Saying I'm autistic is easy but then trying to explain it is very difficult, especially when people say something like you don't look autistic because then I've no idea what to say or how to explain it.