Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
I'm a 33 year old male diagnosed with autism and ADHD last year. It was recommended I seek a diagnosis after years of very severe mental health issues and, lo and behold, turns out I am indeed on the spectrum. I still don't know what to make of it but as time goes on I realise I can attribute more and more of my challenges and eccentricities to this, and it might help to reach out to others like myself. I've always been friends with autistic people but I'm not yet ready to tell people I know about my diagnosis (with a couple of exceptions).
It's interesting how people on the spectrum seem to gravitate towards one another isn't it, whether they know they're autistic or not.
I think this is quite a natural reaction. There were quite a few people diagnosed in later life in the last year. Including myself. I’m a 46 year old male and was diagnosed about 3 or 4 months ago.
Some days I am quite pleased to be Aspie and other days I really struggle. I find I have moments when I will suddenly remember something that happened years before, even back to childhood, and I’ll think “I wonder if that was because I was ASD”. The positive side is that now I understand my anxiety triggers better and so can manage them, which means I’m more willing to try to do more.
Take it all in your own time. No one has to know unless you want to tell them.
But yes, minority we may be but there are more of us out there than we think and when you meet another...communication problem? What communication problem? I've had couple of professional and social relationships with people on the spectrum. Others found them odd. I struggled to see it. They were just nice ordinary people to me, hmmm....looking back, I wonder why that was.
Hello I was diagnosed this year (41/male)
I (think) I know and have known a lot of autistic people.
I think back on the number of times I have said things like "Yes - I met this guy with obvious ASD - they're just so easy to talk to" And feeling the relief of not having to 'put on the show' (IE turn all the social skills up to maximum) because they are actually going to get what I'm talking about...And (hilariously, I suppose) still not believing for a second that it could be because I was the same... LOL