Hello from in Shropshire, England, I'm Nick Squiggler 68 years old, diagnosed about 4 years, finally. For me it was a great relief, and the diagnosis has changed my life. I know who I am and why I am not the person school and my tutors doing my degree in Fine Art wanted me to be. I am better than that, because I am my true self now.
I can't say it was easy, but somehow I managed to scrape through with a degree. I had no diagnosis, so no student support, if I had of had support as Autistic I would have done better, but I passed, and that was a great achievement. Especially as I never read a single of the recommended books. Art literature is impossibly hard to understand, rocket science would have been easier.
When I started I found it very hard to write in anything like an academic way, but in the end I did manage to write a dissertation. Not great, but good enough to pass.
That was about 15 years ago.
I love making art and drawing, painting and sewing are my favourite stims.
My current obsession is the idea that Autistic people are people with Neanderthal traits. My favourite book when I was at school was Stig of the Dump, a caveman living in a town's dump. I have always felt like Stig, an outsider, someone who just doesn't belong in the 'normal' world. I feel that people think I'm a human being, and I try very hard to look like one, but really I'm not, as if I accidentally came here through a time warp. Actually my head is very similar shaped to Captain Jean-Luc Picard's I have a distinct brow ridge and long skull, I always thought I had Neanderthal DNA even when no one thought it was possible.
Some people liken Autism to being on the wrong planet, I can relate to that too, but far better for me is being an ugly duckling, a changeling, someone who everyone thinks is a human but is actually a faery, alien or Neanderthal. However looking at my family I see the genes, lots of odd shaped heads and creativity and easy for me to get on with. I come from a long line of oddballs, and I'm very happy with that.
