Hi, hoping to speak to people who are on the same wavelength as me, something that seems quite difficult in real life

Thank you, will check that out

SJH1994 said:

Out of interest does getting a formal diagnosis bring any kind of benefits to not getting one?

You might find information here helpful:

NAS - Deciding whether to seek an autism assessment

NAS - Formal support following an autism diagnosis

Hi and welcome from another self discovered person.

I understand what you mean about it being difficult to find others who are on the same wavelength. 

I thought this may be the case regarding state support etc, in some ways this could help as my current circumstances would benefit from some kind of support, I will look into this, thanks

I guess it feels very different at first when you have it on paper for the time, I imagine the feeling in my case would probably be-"That's it, I'm Officially Autistic" lol

If you are in employment and looking for reasonable adjustments to be made to accommodate your disability (or their disabling environment), they could insist on proof of your disability. In that case, you'd need a formal diagnosis (I think, IANAL).

You might also qualify for disability payments, supports or services from the state if you are formally diagnosed.

Many people also like the certainty of it, though lots of people with a formal diagnosis still feel like impostors, at least for a while until it sinks in. (It took me 22 years for it to sink in; I'm a bit slow on the uptake!)

Exactly this! In pretty much all cases I am classically autistic, and often when reading other peoples experiences, I can relate entirely, as I can see myself.

Out of interest does getting a formal diagnosis bring any kind of benefits to not getting one? I generally decided not to bother as I just thought of it as being told something I already know

If you know, you know. You've probably done your research and related to other Autistic people's stories, and thought, "OMG! That's me!" I mean, who would know better?

There is some stat I read somewhere that over 90% of people who self-diagnose who go on to have a formal diagnosis have their self-diagnosis confirmed. There are reasons to get a formal diagnosis, but there are also reasons not to. It's down to you.

Nice to meet you

Nice to meet you

Well your description of how it feels after prolonged masking is definitely the words of someone who thinks like me. Fortunately I don't have your specific problem in that I don't really have much in the way of family, so am never really expected to mask too much in my outside work life, its mainly at work when I'm working amongst colleagues that I have to mask, and I often have to go and spend time alone in periods of free time I have, to try and rebuild energy again. 

Thanks for the reassurance!

Hi

I know how that feels, even in the few online spaces I have participated in I have found it quite hard to feel a sense of belonging, I have found general online spaces like Reddit to be highly toxic places to be avoided at all costs.

I'm hoping this will be the first place where I can feel I'm amongst my own, at least to some degree, I guess with time I will find out

Hi, nice to meet you, it does get quite mentally exhausting having to mask all the time in my day to day life

Being on the spectrum I naturally have an obsessive "special interest", in my case its cars and pretty much anything with wheels, strangely enough though It tends to be cars that most people typically don't show as much interest in, mainly older "everyday" cars, I tend to show some kind of interest in most types of vehicles but those are my favourites.

I also like films, older TV series/comedies, retro video games as well as a few more recent ones.

I also have a fascination in knowing the dates of things, and like writing them down, for example the months/years of when something I like was released-ie a Car or Film, or when something that interests me happened, again I think that is probably a trait that falls under being on the spectrum

Thanks, and nice to meet another 90s kid!

I was a little nervous as to whether the fact I haven't ever been officially diagnosed might have been frowned upon a little, so I'm glad to hear this, I know it isn't easy to get a diagnosis and its quite a prolonged process.

Thats great, I'm sure I will speak to you again here!

Welcome! I’m a 90s kid as well.

You’ve probably heard this before, but being self-diagnosed is totally acceptable around here. Especially since it can be so difficult to get a diagnosis.

Let me know if you have any questions or such. I’m open to talk!

Hi and welcome, SJH1994.  I have no doubt that you'll find some matching wavelengths here and you can give your mask a rest.

What sort of stuff are you into?

Hi, me too.

When I was a teenager I told a friend that my dream was to one day find people I felt similar to, and we would discuss deep topics of science and math, and also try to help to reduce suffering and inequality.

I know there are people like that out there, I've participated in some of these places, but never feeling myself.

For example, I don't like managers, or leaders or in general "Illegitimate Authority" (Chomsky's book title); I appreciate that some do it selflessly, but I think sooner or later some voices are lost, and some stand out.

Then I start losing interest, and later on leave.

But I do like it here, for example, and may be the place I felt the best so far. I am somewhat scared/concerned about moderation though.

Welcome, you are speaking my language, I don't know if I think like you but I have never met anyone else that thinks like me, that is until I joined this forum. 

I hope it helps you as much as it has helped me so far.

Good luck.

BTW, masking is incredibly draining I agree, I spent 4 hours at a family party recently and spent the entire next day doing nothing because I was burnt out. My masking is worse with my family as they expect a certain person to turn up to parties, it's hard, but remember, here on this forum you are in the company of people who understand.

Hi and welcome to the community!