Its all new to me

Hi Rainbow

I'm 49 and was diagnosed a few months ago. I was also brought up as Christian and still go to church, although my faith is shaky at best at the moment (but not because of my diagnosis!).

You're absolutely right about not being defined by a diagnosis. I know it's a bit of a cliché now but "if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person!" - in other words, no two of us are alike even though we share some traits with each other.

I've been doing a lot of reading into autism lately and am happy to recommend some books that might help. Some of these are heavier going than others!

• Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism by Pierre Novellie - a fun and light-hearted read that also delves into quite a few of the more common comorbidities
• The Chimp Paradox: How Our Impulses and Emotions Can Determine Success and Happiness and How We Can Control Them by Steve Peters - not a book about autism at all but a helpful way of thinking about our brains and how they function, particularly the emotional side of things
• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman - a more in-depth look at the brain and how it works. Again, not specific to autism but there are some helpful insights
• NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman - a complete history of autism from its initial discovery right through to the present day, including where a lot of the misinformation and misconceptions came from and how they're gradually being corrected

Although being autistic doesn't make us expert psychologists by any means, once you know more about it you do start to spot tell-tale signs and traits in other people, and you realise there are almost certainly more autistic people around than anybody previously acknowledged. I liken it to "gaydar" - being able to spot a fellow autistic brain!

And that has also made me think about the life of Jesus as depicted in the gospels. He demonstrated some tell-tale autistic traits; "black-and-white thinking" (Matthew 12:30), possibly an autistic meltdown (Matt 21:12-13 / Mark 11:15-18), withdrawing from crowds (Mark 3:7 among others). We are in good company!

Hi Rainbow

I'm 49 and was diagnosed a few months ago. I was also brought up as Christian and still go to church, although my faith is shaky at best at the moment (but not because of my diagnosis!).

You're absolutely right about not being defined by a diagnosis. I know it's a bit of a cliché now but "if you've met one autistic person, you've met one autistic person!" - in other words, no two of us are alike even though we share some traits with each other.

I've been doing a lot of reading into autism lately and am happy to recommend some books that might help. Some of these are heavier going than others!

• Why Can't I Just Enjoy Things?: A Comedian's Guide to Autism by Pierre Novellie - a fun and light-hearted read that also delves into quite a few of the more common comorbidities
• The Chimp Paradox: How Our Impulses and Emotions Can Determine Success and Happiness and How We Can Control Them by Steve Peters - not a book about autism at all but a helpful way of thinking about our brains and how they function, particularly the emotional side of things
• Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain by David Eagleman - a more in-depth look at the brain and how it works. Again, not specific to autism but there are some helpful insights
• NeuroTribes by Steve Silberman - a complete history of autism from its initial discovery right through to the present day, including where a lot of the misinformation and misconceptions came from and how they're gradually being corrected

Although being autistic doesn't make us expert psychologists by any means, once you know more about it you do start to spot tell-tale signs and traits in other people, and you realise there are almost certainly more autistic people around than anybody previously acknowledged. I liken it to "gaydar" - being able to spot a fellow autistic brain!

And that has also made me think about the life of Jesus as depicted in the gospels. He demonstrated some tell-tale autistic traits; "black-and-white thinking" (Matthew 12:30), possibly an autistic meltdown (Matt 21:12-13 / Mark 11:15-18), withdrawing from crowds (Mark 3:7 among others). We are in good company!