Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello, I am 56 years old and am undiagnosed, but waiting for an NHS appointment - it's been almost 2 years since my self-referral - appointments have now been suspended during the Covid crisis.
I have struggled with autistic traits all my life, finding it difficult to make and keep friends, being anxious about new places and situations; during my teens at school, I rarely spoke to anyone for 4 years.
I have always seemed to make a quicker connection with with non NT people, and NTs have often seemed hostile, dismissive or excluded me, which has always hurt.
Since a young age I have felt lonely and isolated and can be seen as miserable or angry. Social media can increase these feelings if I get too involved.
Since my early 40s I have made a career from helping people with disabilities of all kinds make and record their own music. I also met and married my soulmate, who completely gets who I am and what makes me tick, which has enabled me to be more self-aware about some of the anxiety and confidence issues I have and how I try to fit in to the world.
It has been quite a journey to get to this point, and to begin to admit to myself and others that I am NT.
Hi Solero, if you have the opportunity to return to it I could not recommend it too much - although it can be exhausting and challenging, seeing others changes in self confidence through playing music is amazing.
Thank you Aidie.
Thank you Plectrum. I will have an explore.
Hi Jerry and welcome to the forum. I would love to hear more about your work, it sounds very similar to what I have worked with before and am thinking about going back to.
welcome to the forumn
Hello Jerry, welcome to the forum and thanks for your introduction. Feel free to join in any of the threads, there are light-hearted discussions as well as heavy ones, although the current situation is probably skewing the mix of topics a bit.