Hi All
i have only just been diagnosed with Autism, I am a 40 year old man and generally in life I have always known I am different or at least felt different,
within the last 2 years my Daughter has been put forward for autism assessments (she is till waiting) and her mum (my partner) is a nurse, Anyway after the school recommending her for autism assessments her mum started to learn more about autism, traits and behaviours etc and started pointing out to me that I fit the description of someone with autism, admit-tingly I brushed it off and took it as more of a insult at first as it felt like I was just being pointed out for what felt like things being wrong with me.
overtime I started to read up on Autism myself as 1, I was a little curious because as I stated before I've always felt different and 2, I felt like I had a responsibility to my daughter to be open minded and support her as I know she has struggles of her own and I can for sure see similar traits to myself, after reading and exploring more about Autism it became difficult for me to deny so many similarities in behaviours and traits with being described and I knew was in myself (hope I've explained that clearly)
so I've gone from refusing to believe it to accepting or suspecting I am autistic, I went and saw a doctor and done the initial (A10 questionnaire I think it's called) and passed the 6/10 requirement to qualify for a ASD assessment, that was literally 3 weeks ago and yesterday I had my assessment and was diagnosed with High function-able Autism
when reading up on it after I saw the doctor over stress issues I thought it would take 6-12 months for an assessment and I have actually been diagnosed within 3 weeks
my 10yr old daughter is now fuming with me as she's told her mum "he's gone from not believing init to now saying he's autistic and I'm still waiting to find out when my assessment is after 2.5 years)
I do understand how frustrating it must be for her as I feel like I've been there growing up feeling different, and yesterday morning when I woke up I didn't know I was having a ASD assessment as I thought it was gonna be like a pre assessment because the website said it was a 6-12 month waiting list
my mum is 70 this year and I've told her I have been diagnosed with Autism and it's like she don't believe it or I suspect she thinks I'm making it up for attention as she out right told me she's fed up with hearing about it
life has been hard and I've always been open minded and always tried to respect other people values and beliefs
for now I feel relieved that I have been diagnosed because I can try to meet similar people who can understand where I'm coming from by the way I think and express myself, I'm actually curious would I get along with someone just like me (I think I think this as I would try and assess how people see me)
it's nice to meet you all in advance (if I do meet anyone on here I mean not meet up) I'm just happy and curious to be here
thank you all
