Undiagnosed autism

Yep am 53 and found out at 50. Back then you had to adapt, or die. There was no support, no nothing, school with no teaching assiants and strict disipline. I spent my childhood trying to be normal and trying not to stick out to the bullies. Despite this I seemed to have a light above my head saying 'im diffrent, bully me'. Unless you were really disruptive school didn't care, I was the opposite and kept my head down. Have had no help from the NHS and waited  4 years for a diagnosis. I do wonder if we have gone back the other way a little too much rather then letting people with ASD find their own path?

I was diagnosed at the age of 60, born in 1962.

It was only in the 1980s I think that diagnosis of 'high functioning' autism became a thing and in fact I have a friend who tried for many years this century to get a diagnosis but it's only in the last decade as far as I'm aware that diagnosing is catching up.

Aspergers (the original term used for 'high functioning' autism) wasn't used officially until the 1990s.

It's particularly the case for females to have gone undiagnosed as it was seen as a male thing until relatively recently.

Autism in females presents differently to that in males.

Back in 90’s and 2000’s in Poland people had idea of autism to be caused by vaccines or bad parenting. So I actually feel like my mom saved me by giving the answer to my teacher “my daughter is perfectly normal, just like me!” :-) I heard one more time as a kid, that I’m probably autistic, but nothing was done about it. I suffered a lot while growing up

Yeh it must be hard. All those years of masks. I don’t even know if I believe in masking to be honest. I never felt like I was hiding anything yet they still never diagnosed me. Maybe we don’t mask but just generally act in a people pleasing way because we are naturally more inhibited than the average person. Masking makes us sound like Bateman from American psycho in my opinion. But anyway. I over think way too much just can’t turn my mind down at all. Always been like that never tried to hide anything and couldn’t even if I tried. Still never got diagnosed until my life came crashing down like a ton of bricks. Luckily made it through the hard stuff now so got to keep trying. 

Wouldn't know. Probably somewhat. But most likely not much.

It would most likely be through necessity due to the exponential increase in ASD recognition and diagnosis. And perhaps not so much that the schools are actually any better.

I guess it’s better nowadays then? 

Yep.

Went to school predominantly in the 90's. There was a "thick table" in every class and year. Anyone who had what would be undiagnosed Autism and requiring adaptations or additional assistance would be assigned to the thick table. Even though I had an IQ of 156 at the age of 12. I was resident of the thick table in just about every class.

No time, no money, no staff. Blaa blaa blaa. Excuses excuses. Just a grossly insufficient and entirely not fit for purpose education system.

Young fella might have a point, there.

Look at yrou own field of work, and see how many collegues are really intersted and good at their job, V how many are doing the minimum to get by, and back to their "real life"....

its all it is bro... labeling things... listing things... stamping you as a thing, signing you off as a thing, paperwork. they do all this for money, they dont care of the technicality of your experiences and whether the person is actually experiencing the traits or is too young to even have experienced them, they just stamp you off as whatever the thing they are in charge of doing without thinking or caring. its all paperwork bureaucracy of the wage culture and not actual legit care.

Despite things like having selective mutism and genuinely preferring to be ill over going to school, nothing was ever done to investigate my 'oddness' as a child. I was reasonably academically talented and only autistics with intellectual disabilities were diagnosed at the time (mid to late 1960s).

As diagnosis is in the hands of clinicians, I don't see where the bureaucrats fit in.

I went through all kinds of hell in my own head through the years, eventually started to realise it was me not them, so started to mask to fit in. At 40 I was certain I had something like autism or ADHD or GAD or maybe even OCD, or some other thing. But took me almost another ten years to eventually ask for help and end up getting diagnosed. After all those years the biggest problem I'm left with is so many masks and no idea which is really me, if any.

That’s a shame but at least you know now. It’s crazy how it wasn’t a thing back in the day. I mean autism likely always existed but was never a diagnosis or a recognised condition. Until now. It makes sense to me now but I feel sorry for my ancestors who had autism and never been diagnosed who suffered poverty and so on. 

I didn't find out till I was 49, bulk of my school years were 80s (left highschool in 91), definitely a Very different world. 

All these years later I know now why I struggled so much. But had I been diagnosed I can't imagine getting much help, probably would have been excluded even more, even today they diagnose and notice autism in school kids but do little to help them once they have, beyond removing them from mainstream. 

they give it too readily these days, to people who may never actually be autistic and never actually have the experience. while people who had the experience and the suffering before diagnosis became common wouldnt have got diagnosed. and have gone through the suffering and not be diagnosed, while kids get diagnosis without the suffering then may end up turning out neurotypical without suffering or traits and yet be diagnosed as autistic.

just the way society is. a failing beaurocracy.