Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi
I am a recently diagnosed 66 year old man who is struggling with coming to terms with the revelation that my whole life has been controlled by a condition I had never learned anything about.
Now that I am working to integrate this new concept I am finding a lot of resistance from my wife and family who are unsettled by how relationships might change.
I hope that this community might provide some answers to so many questions, fears and trepidation.
Ron
Hi Ron,
Welcome. I'm 55 and just been diagnosed. It's very early days for me too. A couple of months ago I didn't really even know what autism was. My wife is currently the only person who knows and she's struggling with it. I Think the other points made in this thread ring true. I think my essential self hasn't changed, and I'm trying to be positive in that a lot of the many difficulties in my life make much more sense when viewed through the lens of Autism, rather than being some failure on my behalf. I'm very wary of speaking to other people about it, until I've let it all settle in my head. In my case, and I suspect many others who are diagnosed late are the same, I'm not sure people will take me seriously as I'm obviously very good at camouflaging my autism. If I persist, I suspect many people who don't know me really well, and even some that do, may pull away from me, thinking I've been hiding something from them, which will be treated with suspicion / ignorance. Frankly, though, I'm exhausted after spending more than 50 years trying to navigate through a world that often confuses me. I'm going to take it one step at a time. Good luck to you Ron
Mark
And Good Luck to you too Mark. You hit the nail on the head. Let's see how things work out. I do think we are better off with having an explanation at least rather than constantly blaming ourselves.