Introducing myself

Hello,

I was diagnosed yesterday (40’s male ASD) and it’s already been good to see posts here from people whose stories I feel I can begin to identify a bit with (never feeling like a proper adult, having had breakdowns, anxiety and depression, not quite sure how to process having a diagnosis, etc). 

I appreciate there being this forum to say and hear experiences as part of trying to understand myself. 

THank you Slight smile

Parents
  • Welcome Starscream. I'm also male and early 40's, just self-diagnosed though. I've found it nice to talk here too. If you feel comfortable to do so, why don't you tell us a bit about yourself? All in your own time though.

  • Thanks pdaddio. 

    In terms of more about myself, I’ve tried to add more over the last day or so but then overthink and second guess myself about what is not enough or too much information, what type of information etc. So I’ll share some of my interests if that’s ok. 

    My main interests are music (listening and playing, particularly hard rock and metal which I also use for work). I like reading (historical and fantasy in particular). I especially like fountain pens and Transformers. 

    I would very much like to get to a point of trying tabletop gaming (rpg and/or miniatures) with other people (I’ve found game shops to be quite inclusive places when I’ve been in and braised without interacting with anyone) so I’m currently researching games like Warhammer or games involved historical miniatures so I can at least try things out on my while working up to interacting in person. 

    More broadly, I’m thinking through if or what I tell people in my family and at work about my diagnosis. Trying to work out what it is in certain settings that I find difficult and where sharing the fact I’m autistic may help me and others. 

  • Hi  I've never really tried tabletop games - though it feels like I might like them since I like video games - just never had the opportunity. I am lucky in having a group of friends where we play board games together though. I enjoy playing board games, but I've discovered that my brain is incapable of being verbally told the rules, nothing registers for me, so I have to watch others play the game and then I pick up the patterns as I go and realise it's never as complicated as I thought. It also means I invariably lose! Luckily I'm not competitive.

    Apart from my wife who figured out with me what my "label" was, I privately told two close friends (separately) via WhatsApp that I suspected I was autistic - I'm not diagnosed, so I always choose my words carefully. It was a bit nerve wracking, but both of them accepted me and were happy to know, so I'm glad I've got two good friends at least!

Reply
  • Hi  I've never really tried tabletop games - though it feels like I might like them since I like video games - just never had the opportunity. I am lucky in having a group of friends where we play board games together though. I enjoy playing board games, but I've discovered that my brain is incapable of being verbally told the rules, nothing registers for me, so I have to watch others play the game and then I pick up the patterns as I go and realise it's never as complicated as I thought. It also means I invariably lose! Luckily I'm not competitive.

    Apart from my wife who figured out with me what my "label" was, I privately told two close friends (separately) via WhatsApp that I suspected I was autistic - I'm not diagnosed, so I always choose my words carefully. It was a bit nerve wracking, but both of them accepted me and were happy to know, so I'm glad I've got two good friends at least!

Children
  • That’s really cool that you have some good friends you clearly accept you as you (as I’m sure you accept them). 

    I totally get what you mean about verbal rules. I need to read it, what it, read it again, have a go with someone guiding me through. Another reason why I’m nervous about playing in person. 

    I’ve never really been any good at computer games (I like having a go but get stuck easily!) but I’m of an age where I was put off by having a Spectrum (what an ironic name now) 128 and tapes that always crashed. My friends were much trendier and had Commodore 64 machines and better games.