Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone,
I was diagnosed with ASD back in 2017. I guess like everyone else I always knew something was not quite 'normal' with me.
I felt before and during the assessment process that it would be wonderful to have a diagnosis and understand who I really was. However, since my diagnosis, I have felt a bit lost by it all. I don't feel I know who I am anymore. At times I thought process is now "I can't do that because I've got ASD" whereas it might be more confident or gung-ho before. I guess there's an adjustment time required for people who have had such a diagnosis. I have been surprised by the lack of follow-up I have had since my diagnosis. I feel I have to work out my own way of dealing with the diagnosis and life now.
What I have found very helpful is starting to feel like I need to harness my 'special powers'. I know how hyperfocused I can be on a task, I just need to pick useful and healthy things to be focused on. Recently it's been running, as I have weight to lose! I also know that I can become too focused on a task and lose perspective. Sometimes breaking focus can ultimately help.
More recently, my 5-year-old child has been having issues at school due to his behaviour and the teacher and school SENDCo feel he might have ASD. His 'issues' are somewhat different from mine both at his current age and throughout my life. I'm not sure how I feel about him being diagnosed and labelled with ASD. I wonder if my life would've been better or worse if I had been diagnosed as a child.
This post is a perfect example of my brain and how completely disjointed my thoughts are at times. My wife finds it bizarre at times how I flit between topics or conversely only want to talk about or do one thing all day!
I'm sixty, got diagnosed last year. Your personal experience & consclusions mirror my own.
My kid (now 20 something) likes her diagnosis, and feels she has had to struggle less. She also takes no prisoners when NT's start to rag on her at work for things she clearly struggles with.
An autism awareness card reduces the police's ability to bully you, too, which is not a bad thing for those who do not have the fortitude or skill required to "hand a bit back and get away with it".
*EDIT* I'm plagued by "wholistic thinking" where I cannot start a job until I can see the whole of the thing including the parts that are "outside my lane" or "above my paygrade". It only feels like disjointed thinking until the "sythesis" happens, (if it happens & I don't get thrown off course) when I suddenly and pretty much completely understand what I am doing.