Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello everyone!
My name's Caroline, I'm 17 and I just got my official autism diagnosis so even though I've been on this forum for a little while, I thought I'd properly introduce myself now. I'm relieved to finally get my diagnosis as it makes a lot of things make sense but I also feel a bit weird about it as there are lots of things I do that I feel aren't very autistic. Has anyone else had similar doubts after being diagnosed?
Hello
Welcome to the forum. can I ask, what is it that you do that doesn’t feel very autistic?
I guess mainly that I don't have many obvious stims, I feel I can understand emotions pretty well and I have friends currently who I like to meet up with. I know those are stereotypes and you can be autistic and do those things it's just with the media's terrible portrayals of autism I feel like a fake if I don't tick every box.
Oh I get you. I think we all feel like this. I’m very in tune with peoples emotions, too much in fact. I have been married, I have children, I’ve run my own business for years, I used to have a best friend, a social group, and used to go clubbing and pubbing etc.
I didn’t think I had any stims, becuase what I do is normal for me. I realise though that my finger picking and biting is a stim. My nail biting was a stim. I jiggle my leg, hold my hands in certain ways when jogging, bite my lip and inside my cheek, and I copy certain things I hear…. I twirl my hair and like feeling my curls. I also rub my thighs when seated with lots of pressure. It just relaxes me. To anyone else it looks like I’m massaging sore legs.
Dont worry about not confirming, you’re not a fake, and we’re all different.