Did you think you were autistic before someone suggested it?

I'm curious whether you can see it in yourself. I thought I was right and everyone else was wrong.

I suspected I was different, but squashed it, I was just extra normal. I couldn't figure out why I was confused and had bouts of depression,

I just wanted to know what was holding me back, why I had some atypical depression, and whether there was something up with how I communicated.

But there was no need for an autism test. I wasn't autistic surely.

Except the psychologists thought otherwise, 3 of them. I even argued with them, a sign in itself probably.

So did you guess, before someone suggested a screening test? Maybe the internet makes it more likely these days, but you need a reason to go looking.

Parents
  • Honestly I thought I was just weird. I grew up feeling different, weird and isolated. I didn't know autism existed I just thought I was different. I thought like maybe I might've been an alien a number of times, abandoned or forgotten by my parents who went off into space and left me here to try and fit in and be like everyone else. 

    My teacher at school when I was in year 9 saw the autistic signs and traits in me which I had noticed but thought it was just my weirdness and my parents didn't really notice it. I hated school, it was one big sensory overload that lasted from start to finish but I'm eternally grateful to my school and my teacher Mrs Lane for telling my parents and getting the diagnosis ball rolling.

    I'm not long diagnosed but I'm grateful to her for telling me and opening my eyes. If she hadn't I wouldn't be here now and I wouldn't know why I was different to those around me. I spent so long feeling weird and like I don't belong. It's nice to know that I'm not weird and I do belong.

  • So, true. After decades of feeling like an alien in a human suit, Autism suddenly makes so much sense.

Reply Children