Newly diagnosed with ASD Aspergers profile this morning

I was diagnosed last Friday (7/12) with ASD Adult Aspergers. It was so good to finally have that actually fully confirmed. I'm 34 and have spent my life wondering why I always feel like I'm on the edge of life all the time, not really able to fully join in. More and more people kept either presuming I was autistic or telling me I was acting like I was. 

At first I thought "no, I can't be autistic...autistic people are onviously more disabled.". I then had a big health burnout and got a diagnosis of ME/CFS...which was actually a good thing because I at least then had a legitimate reason to avoid going places and doing things that I found so hard or people would understand if I left early or stayed quiet in a corner on my own at a party.

It was about 9 years ago that I finally decided to take the autsim suggestions I was still hearing from friends and those aound me more seriously. I did a few online tests and scored very very highly. I then discovered stuff about the female presentation of autism and suddenly my whole life started to make sense.

But it was only 1yr ago I truly accepted that I fitted into the autistic spectrum...and I decided to accept autism and persue a diagnosis. I am so glad I did because I now have that final official confirmation that has effectively set me free!

I have not so far been able to hold down a job for more than a couple of months at a time..now I will be able to ask for reasonable adjustments to be able to cope in the workplace.

I hope you can start to feel positive about your diagnosis soon. I found Sarah Hendrickx's videos on youtube helpful to watch as she gave words to a lot of my thoughts and feelings so I now know better how to describe to others what I am experiencing.

Keep posting on here too as sharing ecperiences can help each other feel less alone in what we face in life.

I was diagnosed last Friday (7/12) with ASD Adult Aspergers. It was so good to finally have that actually fully confirmed. I'm 34 and have spent my life wondering why I always feel like I'm on the edge of life all the time, not really able to fully join in. More and more people kept either presuming I was autistic or telling me I was acting like I was. 

At first I thought "no, I can't be autistic...autistic people are onviously more disabled.". I then had a big health burnout and got a diagnosis of ME/CFS...which was actually a good thing because I at least then had a legitimate reason to avoid going places and doing things that I found so hard or people would understand if I left early or stayed quiet in a corner on my own at a party.

It was about 9 years ago that I finally decided to take the autsim suggestions I was still hearing from friends and those aound me more seriously. I did a few online tests and scored very very highly. I then discovered stuff about the female presentation of autism and suddenly my whole life started to make sense.

But it was only 1yr ago I truly accepted that I fitted into the autistic spectrum...and I decided to accept autism and persue a diagnosis. I am so glad I did because I now have that final official confirmation that has effectively set me free!

I have not so far been able to hold down a job for more than a couple of months at a time..now I will be able to ask for reasonable adjustments to be able to cope in the workplace.

I hope you can start to feel positive about your diagnosis soon. I found Sarah Hendrickx's videos on youtube helpful to watch as she gave words to a lot of my thoughts and feelings so I now know better how to describe to others what I am experiencing.

Keep posting on here too as sharing ecperiences can help each other feel less alone in what we face in life.

Hi Beaky, I know what you mean about feeling like you're on the edge of life and not able to fully join in. I spent my early childhood trying to make friends and failing miserably; my later childhood and early teens maybe making friends only to lose them a few months later and i would never know what I'd done to offend them or another girl who'd played with me at guides/after church but then didn't want to play with me at school and I didn't understand why; in my late teens I just assumed that i must be a complete weirdo and during my 20's I assumed that I must just be a really bad person, because what other explanation could there possibly be that no one ever wanted to be friends with me? 

I started to realise that I have Aspergers when I was 34. I also did a few online Autism Spectrum tests and scored really highly. You mention about the female presentation of autism and this is something that I've also researched. It's important to because the classic male presentation doesn't fit with women. If i'd just kept researching the older stuff on autism, focused mainly on males then I probably wouldn't have thought that it applied to me but once I started reading the stuff on the female presentation of autism then likewise, my whole life started to make sense.

I'm sorry to hear that you've been unable to hold down a job for for than a couple of months. What difficulties have caused that to happen? There's more pressure on employers now to make reasonable adjustments for people with disabilities so I really hope that now that you have your diagnosis you have more success on the work front.

I'm glad that you've found some helpful videos on utube, I might have a look at them later. I explained in a reply further up this page that I've been working through a social skills book, with very good results. I hope you can find something that helps you too

will definitely keep posting