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Any success stories?

NAS96243
19 hours ago

Hi all,

I've been recently diagnosed with high-functioning autism as an adult (I'm in my mid-forties), and I am struggling to understand how to move on with my life and make things better for myself and the people around me. Therapy is helping me to reconsider who I am and how I respond to my challenges, but I feel like I don't really have a plan for the future.

On the one hand, a diagnosis is great because it helped me understand that most of the issues I've faced during my life have a cause: the very precise feeling of being different from everyone else, which makes being in a social situation a nightmare; the tendency to isolate myself and use my special interest to create an alternative world where I can lose myself and feel comfortable; the discomfort I've felt at work. It's nice to see that there always was an objective issue, and it's not just me being lazy, difficult, or plain stupid.

On the other hand, I am quite exhausted by all this, and I'm quite scared by the prospect of living in the same way as I always have, until the end of my days. Being alone used to be a relief, but it has turned into a prison. I'm aware you can't simply switch autism off, you have to accept it, but I'm really hoping I can find ways to work around my limitations. 

So I wanted to ask the community, has any of you been diagnosed with ASD as adults, and managed to turn their lives around (or at least, make some progress) following that realization? Do you have any success stories, advice, strategies, that you would like to share?

Parents
  • 2 hours ago

    I actively sought out a diagnosis at 59, just after I had taken early retirement. My experience of being diagnosed was almost entirely positive. From thinking that all my problems were purely personal, and personal failures at being a fully functioning human being, I found that I had a genuine, external, if you will, cause for how I am. This was a huge relief. Rather than being a rather weak allistic person, I was an incredibly strong autistic person, overcoming on a daily basis problems that just did not exist for the vast majority of people in the world.

Reply
  • 2 hours ago

    I actively sought out a diagnosis at 59, just after I had taken early retirement. My experience of being diagnosed was almost entirely positive. From thinking that all my problems were purely personal, and personal failures at being a fully functioning human being, I found that I had a genuine, external, if you will, cause for how I am. This was a huge relief. Rather than being a rather weak allistic person, I was an incredibly strong autistic person, overcoming on a daily basis problems that just did not exist for the vast majority of people in the world.

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