Published on 12, July, 2020
I don't know at this point if I have autism. Friends have suggested I may have. Some of the traits relating to autism seem to fit me whilst others do not. I can relate to difficulties in forming friendships and relationships, to experiences of sensory overload and to anxiety, particularly in social situations. I am less sure when it comes to whether I require routine - although my current situation is that I care for 9 cats, so that my life revolves around their routines. I have mostly been fully employed since 18 years old, though my CV job history is lengthy and does not demonstrate a clear cut career path, really only indicating my tenacity. I don't have a special subject I'm passionate about: my only study is of the cats (who are mostly unrelated to one another) co-operating and resolving their differences as a group.
I was diagnosed at 42 and close people and my employer asked me what I want to gain out of a late diagnosis. Being told you are different and feeling different all my life it gave me an identity, the ability to say I actually do belong to a group of people who are so diverse and special, I’m not weird like most people I met thought I was. It also opens up the right to ask for reasonable adjustments at work places, I am allowed to wear my headphones now and I sit in a darker part of my workplace.
I would say if you feel there is something in a diagnosis for you, do it because although it will stop you wondering and you will know one way or the other.