Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
I was diagnosed three weeks ago with Level 1 autism/Asperger’s Syndrome. My son had his diagnosis when he was a teenager and is now aged 30.
I have mixed feelings about it as it answers many questions on the difficulties I have always faced in my social interactions but I also feel hopeless and less inclined to try.
I would love to hear from other women who have had a diagnosis later in their lives and how they are coping.
This is starting to look like a competition for who was the oldest when diagnosed There is a lady on one of the threads who was diagnosed in her 70s
I was very recently diagnosed too (late 60s). It throws a different light on my past life, and makes it easier to understand some of what I have been through and my manner of handling it.
Going forward, I think it will enable me to be kinder to myself. The dx is important to me as I am on my own (my brother lives in Canada) and I am concerned that there will be no-one to speak up for me if I need care in later life.
With social interactions I will be considering carefully which activities, gatherings, and meetings oI will cope with best and giving myself recovery time after. I find activities where conversation is limited suit me hence I swim and I do agility with my dog.
I don't feel it is a matter of coping as much as having better understanding of myself. The dx has not changed who I am. As an analogy, it's like with the tomato plants I muddled up. They will grow and eventually they will fruit and I will be able to label them as the yellow one, the trailing cherry and the normal one. They are still the same plants as before labelling but I will look at them and think how I could have grown them better if I had known which was which (the trailing cherry would be better grown from a suspended planter), and my care in their later stages will be more specific for each plant. So I could have had better care if I had had a label growing up, but now I have one, my care should be more appropriate.