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Any success stories?

NAS96243

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

  • hehe - mine is a story of success if it's about self-realisation - diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago. I'm 60  I now properly realise how much the environment I experience significantly effects me.  One person with ASD might change but the neurotypical world is still a pretty sh1tty one to navigate as it struggles to change with with grace and sustainability.  That work bit rings true with me too.  That's my biggest headache at the moment and getting into an environment that's healthier for me is taking up a lot of my run time.  So, working around limitations? - first thing is to identify with them - 2 1/2 years on and I'm coming out of denial - yes I'm not good with change unless its well organised and well considered, yes stress messes me up big time. These seem to be the 2 biggies for me .  I've masked the effect of them mostly from myself in the past until they were so insufferable I bust and my boundaries went,  .Realisng this seems already to be making the changes smoother and the bringing stress levels down without having to work at it.   Adapt and/or avoid seem to be the options at present.  all the best!

Reply

  • hehe - mine is a story of success if it's about self-realisation - diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago. I'm 60  I now properly realise how much the environment I experience significantly effects me.  One person with ASD might change but the neurotypical world is still a pretty sh1tty one to navigate as it struggles to change with with grace and sustainability.  That work bit rings true with me too.  That's my biggest headache at the moment and getting into an environment that's healthier for me is taking up a lot of my run time.  So, working around limitations? - first thing is to identify with them - 2 1/2 years on and I'm coming out of denial - yes I'm not good with change unless its well organised and well considered, yes stress messes me up big time. These seem to be the 2 biggies for me .  I've masked the effect of them mostly from myself in the past until they were so insufferable I bust and my boundaries went,  .Realisng this seems already to be making the changes smoother and the bringing stress levels down without having to work at it.   Adapt and/or avoid seem to be the options at present.  all the best!

Children