I was diagnosed last night

Congratulations on your diagnosis!

I was unexpectedly diagnosed yesterday!  My assessment was a week ago and I wasn't expecting to hear anything for another couple of weeks so when I got a call from the psychologist I assumed she just wanted to check something - or send me another supplementary test.  But no - it was to tell me that I am autistic :-)

My immediate reaction was to feel ecstatic - and also like you I felt relieved (and vindicated).  But today I felt a bit more uncertain about what it might mean for me - and chose not to tell some friends at work. 

Its early days yet - and I guess for any of us it'll take some getting used to?  I'm hoping joining this and other forums it might help me make more sense of it all. 

Hello , I hope you're well I felt the exact same I had mixed emotions

When I told my classmates that I'm autistic earlier in the year, one of them (who is in my art class) kept bugging me and saying "But how are you autistic?" and I kept saying "I don't know, I just am, how are you neurotypical?" If people won't accept you for who you are then maybe you don't want those people. But that is way easier said than done.

Wow! This is such an amazing mindset! 
It is crazy how a label can make you feel.

I feel like an imposter everywhere I go. Sometimes even in my own kitchen, surrounded by people who love me. It's hard to come to terms with this, and no one can tell you how to feel, even those who have gone through it themselves. I was 12 years old when I got my diagnosis, and of course, it was difficult. It put some things in perspective, like the keyword to a puzzle you'd been pouring over your entire life, and other things I started to question. It's important to remember that you are the same as you have ALWAYS been. You just know more about who that is now. 

To be or not to be.... Diagnosed.

Whether it is better to suffer the slings & arrows of the diagnosis process...

Or to take arms against that undiscovered country...

Both can make one bear the scorns of imposter syndrome.

(Apologies to W Shakespeare for the mangling of a classic speech)

(Interpretation: whether we decide we want a diagnosis for peace of mind, or reject it because of fear that we might be told we're not what we know we are, most of us still experience imposter syndrome)

Thank you for replying!

I am sorry you don't feel like you can tell anyone. However, I know exactly how you feel.

Some people I have told have agreed and are happy for me, others are not taking the news so well.

Yep I think we've all had that and many of us still do.

Hi Lianna, I was diagnosed this morning and before my appointment I was thinking, I’m not autistic and even on the therapist saying, I am 100% autistic, it still didn’t hit me and I also have the imposter syndrome going on, I’ve told one person today and I don’t want to tell anyone else for fear they will call me out and say I’m not autistic and the stigma of having autism