Late diagnosis

Hi Sassetta

I am 49 and have just been diagnosed with ASD and probable ADHD. I have my assessment for that next month.

I used the right to choose pathway, so I only waited 6 months from sending in my pre assessment forms to getting my assessment and diagnosis.

Mt father was schizophrenic and one of my grandsons is diagnosed autistic … my daughter (his mum) is now putting her referral request through as she has traits of ASD and ADHD too. Looks like there’s a genetic link for sure!

I’ve spent a lifetime feeling different, broken and less than - my diagnosis is so validating as when I went down the rabbit hole of researching ASD, everything just made so much sense (combined with ADHD) In addition to the ASD traits, I have executive functioning problems and as an artist I am unable to stick to one medium…. Always finding a new thing to spark my creativity and buying all the equipment .. before moving onto the next thing a few weeks/months later! 

I do feel a bit disappointed that nobody (including myself) realised that all of my issues were related to ASD when I was younger. There were times that I am sure I would have sought support to do some of the things I gave up on due to having little self belief or paralysing anxiety. 

The worst thing about diagnosis is the ignorance of others. I work part time and when I was talking to my manager about my diagnosis, the guy who owns the company overheard part of the conversation - more relating to ADHD. He then went on a massive aggressive rant about how it was all a load of nonsense and that I was a perfectly normal person and he was sick of everyone ‘growing into’ the crap that was ADHD and being labelled when there nothing wrong with them! As you can imagine, that was extremely upsetting and I’d never felt so invalidated in my life! I did get an apology after I’d stormed off back to my office, crying and unable to speak (and after swearing at him for him grabbing my shoulder to try and stop me)

What was your diagnosis experience like? 

Hi Loobizaz,

I get how you've felt all your life. Looking back I can say there were definitely times when I felt those things too. There's a real sense of disappointment that nobody took the time for whatever reason to notice our struggles. My diagnosis day was really good, I felt so well understood by the Clinical Psychologist. At the end, when she told me I was born with Autism, even though I knew this logically, I really felt strongly as though the burden of the fault for being the way I am was taken right off my shoulders, that it wasn't my choice to be this way, as I had always been led to believe from an early age. 

I'm sorry to hear of the issues you are having at work. We need to arm ourselves with the knowledge that this is a complex condition that some people, actually quite a lot of people, are not capable of getting their heads round, or plain can't be bothered. I wish you all the best and I hope the people around you at work reflect on how they have treated you - but don't raise your hopes to high! All the best.

Hi Loobizaz,

I get how you've felt all your life. Looking back I can say there were definitely times when I felt those things too. There's a real sense of disappointment that nobody took the time for whatever reason to notice our struggles. My diagnosis day was really good, I felt so well understood by the Clinical Psychologist. At the end, when she told me I was born with Autism, even though I knew this logically, I really felt strongly as though the burden of the fault for being the way I am was taken right off my shoulders, that it wasn't my choice to be this way, as I had always been led to believe from an early age. 

I'm sorry to hear of the issues you are having at work. We need to arm ourselves with the knowledge that this is a complex condition that some people, actually quite a lot of people, are not capable of getting their heads round, or plain can't be bothered. I wish you all the best and I hope the people around you at work reflect on how they have treated you - but don't raise your hopes to high! All the best.