Skip to main content
Close Button
Donate
  • Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 90 subscribers
  • Views 790 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Just been diagnosed with ASD. I'm not sure what happens now...

Lil Kangaroo
over 2 years ago

Hello, I'm Joe, 31, from Manchester.

I have recently been diagnosed as having an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. I have joined because...

  • I would like to engage with others who have Autism/are on the spectrum; and
  • I am currently experiencing difficulties and would like advice from those with lived experience.

On the latter, I am struggling to come to terms with my ASD diagnosis. I feel angry about the mistreatment I have experienced since school and in every workplace in which I have been employed; mistreatment that I can plausibly attribute to my ASD. Alongside other trauma that I am experiencing, my current situation is really overwhelming, to the extent that I am having nightly meltdowns. I have also been intensely suicidal.

How did you proceed after diagnosis, if you were diagnosed as an adult? What sources of support did you find most helpful? I'm particularly keen on finding the right sources of support. I have sought a lot of support previously, which hasn't helped too much, likely because it wasn't the support I needed.

I look forward to engaging with you all, even when I am not in the doldrums.

Parents
  • over 2 years ago

    Dear Joe

    My son is awaiting a test in December for autism.  He is sure that he is autistic and he struggles too.  He is 30 and is trying to find a way of managing his life (pacing, playing sudoku, but definitely not computer games - in his case - as it messes up his mind completely and he becomes mentally unwell.  

    My son still has as much value as anyone else.  It is just that he lives life differently.  I am sure that once he has worked it out (he doesn't have support at the moment which is very difficult), he will live a life which is fulfilling and I hope use autism in a positive manner (think for example, Chris Packam, but there are many others).

    We don't say 'he is autistic'.  It does not define who a person is, so don't own the label.  Just learn to live your life with it and be free to be who you are.  Get support where needed, but do not let those who don't understand cause your autism to express itself as someone under stress.  My son was given rehabilitation which focussed on target setting - he couldn't do it and became very distressed.  It has taken him a while to recover.  He tried it but it was not the right thing for him.  He is now doing things at his pace (which is very slow progress, but fine).  He has had meltdowns too from the stress, but you will recover.  Reflect and learn from them and move forward.

    I hope this helps, but we don't know much.  He is waiting for the diagnosis and any support available, though not depending on it.  The NHS is so overloaded, that I think my son will have to take responsibility for managing it - but it is so difficult for him at the moment.  Do you have a good, trusting friend or family member who can support you in anyway?  Or a key worker (Mark has this from mental health, but they may have someone as you have been diagnosed).

    All the very best.  You can manage this.  Don't give up.  You were born, as you are, in this world for a purpose.  Don't miss it.

    Kind regards

    Juliet

Reply
  • over 2 years ago

    Dear Joe

    My son is awaiting a test in December for autism.  He is sure that he is autistic and he struggles too.  He is 30 and is trying to find a way of managing his life (pacing, playing sudoku, but definitely not computer games - in his case - as it messes up his mind completely and he becomes mentally unwell.  

    My son still has as much value as anyone else.  It is just that he lives life differently.  I am sure that once he has worked it out (he doesn't have support at the moment which is very difficult), he will live a life which is fulfilling and I hope use autism in a positive manner (think for example, Chris Packam, but there are many others).

    We don't say 'he is autistic'.  It does not define who a person is, so don't own the label.  Just learn to live your life with it and be free to be who you are.  Get support where needed, but do not let those who don't understand cause your autism to express itself as someone under stress.  My son was given rehabilitation which focussed on target setting - he couldn't do it and became very distressed.  It has taken him a while to recover.  He tried it but it was not the right thing for him.  He is now doing things at his pace (which is very slow progress, but fine).  He has had meltdowns too from the stress, but you will recover.  Reflect and learn from them and move forward.

    I hope this helps, but we don't know much.  He is waiting for the diagnosis and any support available, though not depending on it.  The NHS is so overloaded, that I think my son will have to take responsibility for managing it - but it is so difficult for him at the moment.  Do you have a good, trusting friend or family member who can support you in anyway?  Or a key worker (Mark has this from mental health, but they may have someone as you have been diagnosed).

    All the very best.  You can manage this.  Don't give up.  You were born, as you are, in this world for a purpose.  Don't miss it.

    Kind regards

    Juliet

Children
No Data