Beginning Adult Diagnosis Odyssey at 44 - interested to hear other's experiences navigating this winding path in middle-life.

Being diagnosed is a wonderful experience, it explains so much that has gone right/wrong in your life. But I find that only really kind people and highly trained psychologists really understand what autism is. In some ways (not others) invisible / masking autism is the hardest: you spend 40-50years of your life making 1000s of acquaintances and maybe 1 friend if you’re lucky, but if you try to tell someone you are autistic they will say things like ‘well everyone’s a little bit autistic’ or ‘its probably not as bas as you think’. While a diagnosis allows you to suddenly understand yourself which is truly amazing, sadly it doesn’t mean that other people suddenly understand you. Its after all a very complex subject that takes an exceptionally clever / thoughtful / open-minded person to truly comprehend.

Being diagnosed is a wonderful experience, it explains so much that has gone right/wrong in your life. But I find that only really kind people and highly trained psychologists really understand what autism is. In some ways (not others) invisible / masking autism is the hardest: you spend 40-50years of your life making 1000s of acquaintances and maybe 1 friend if you’re lucky, but if you try to tell someone you are autistic they will say things like ‘well everyone’s a little bit autistic’ or ‘its probably not as bas as you think’. While a diagnosis allows you to suddenly understand yourself which is truly amazing, sadly it doesn’t mean that other people suddenly understand you. Its after all a very complex subject that takes an exceptionally clever / thoughtful / open-minded person to truly comprehend.