Hello all,
42yr old female and mother of 3 - diagnosed with ADHD and Autism just yesterday. ADHD made sense, and I went ahead with the Autism assessment, because my therapists and diagnosticians suggested I do so. I thought my life experiences were normal. So I was completely shocked to receive a diagnosis.
As this is so new, I am reading through Autism material online, and honestly, I feel like such an imposter. There are so many people that have it worse than me. Even my son has issues with interoception, back and forth conversation, etc, and I feel wrong taking this label, when he is still on the waiting list for one. I have had issues with friendships, social cues, executive functioning etc all my life - however I feel awful describing myself as someone with a disability, when clearly, I am okay in comparison to others.
Anyone else feel this way? I feel embarrassed to tell others about my diagnosis (even family) because I fear no one will believe me (I don't really believe it myself). Somehow I feel like I have managed to convince myself that I have Autism, because I researched it to the death before my assessment. Maybe I just convinced the assessors, and managed to pass the test - so this is all just a huge mistake????
