How long have you been diagnosed?

for me I was diagnosed at age 5 or 6 acordimg to my Mum and Dad. so I was little when I was diagnosed. she said she found it  diffucult getting a diagnosis cause  I didnt look or act autisitic when I was doing some of the activatys I was doing when I was little in the assesment when playing etc

but told me that she noticed when I was little that something was off and that I was more sensitive than normal to noises around me and would get upset by it. and there were also other things that were off aswell that got me the diagnosis but emphasised it was very diffucult cause I apeared to act like everyone else

I was diagnosed with comorbid conditions over the years aswell and around the time period as my autism diagnosis.  I was diagnosed with a rare comdition cause tuberous sclerosis aswell as epelepsy which is is now comtroled and a sleep disporder 

I got a diagnosis of developmental learning disabiloty when I was arpund the 7 and 8 age range. my co morbid comditions do add complexity to my Autism and learning disability diagnosis I havr learned as I got older 

the rare genetic disorder called tuberous sclerosis means I have  tubers blocking certain areas of my brain. alot of people with ts also end up diagnosed with co morbid conditions commonly Autism or Learning disabilitys, epelepsy and others. but not all people with the condition  nesacerily. 

a Ts exspert aswell as my Mum ( thinks) my Tuberous sclerosis (might) be responsible for me being born with Autism and Learning disability cause theres a high probability of haveing other conditioms like Autism even though not all people with ts have them in the brain. it blocks parts of my brain responsible for various things including learning. 

 Mum told him shes noticed changes and improvments in my autistic symptoms compared to previous years. but I havnt noticed anything. I take advantage of strengths and weaknesses I know that my autism gives me when I can though and have learmed how to as I got older though. 

for them they think cause my medicame shrinks them in my brain it (might) be responsible for why my autisitc behavior have (apeared ) to of inproved compared to when I was younger and they cant think of amy other reasom why. 

. they havmt given me anything for or against to support there theory and the  comdition ismt well known so to me so its just there opinion as far I know. 

what I do know for certaim however is I know theres no cure for autism so it is unlikely a cause (but) instead (a factor) for being born with it 

and this is where I answer your second question 

I have  more interests and  I have more knoledge amd  exsperiamce cause of my special interests and have been growing and learning about my autism as I got  older,

I have learned alot about Autism and learning disabilitys from beimg at acomodations like special schools and college ones that support me and others  with the comditioms cause people in my class and the playground was autistic.

and from doing research on the conditioms and learning about myself. we were also told we have it amf told about it at school (aswell) when I was a teemager. I dont know if the others in my class knew they had it but they were the only ones that were surprised when the teacher told them. for me I already knew so wasnt surprised. 

. when I was a teenager  I made a tshirt that says I have autism and also one that says my autism makes me brave amd determined and other things and wanted to learn more about it so I came to acept amf embrace it over the years 

I found some strategys that I had established to deal with some of my symptoms  over the years and is therfore less obvious to those around me  and more internalised but I dont usualy surpress it. im not afraid of being my autistic self regardless and I dont hide it from others either.  some things neurotypical people dont understand I keep to myself while other things I tell them about. but otherwise Iv allways never felt the need to hide it and even teach some people about it and let them know if theres something they need to know cause of my autism if im comfortable with it. 

for me being autistic has allways been part of my identity. the way I fpund out I was autistic is cause Mum wrote it down for me when I was a child around the 9, 10 age range for me to read and exsplained everything to me so I had a long time to come to terms with my comdition after that 

Thankyou for contributing to my thread Zo.

thats ok 

thats ok