Hello. Are there any people here who were born in the 70s and 80s, always different, now diagnosed with high-functioning autism? Like me?

I have had a mixed response. I only have 2 friends 1 has been amazing 1 hasn’t coped well. 

my sister has been amazing. Both my teenage boys are diagnosed with autism one also has adhd so they fully understand. 

work have been very supportive and I am just about to have an occupational health assessment. 

Hi. I was born in 1970 and was diagnosed with autism and adhd about a month ago. 

reading your post and the responses to it have been quite profound. So many similarities in struggles with life and education. 

I have managed to forge a path that has been successful but at some cost and impact. 

my diagnosis has been seismic as although I felt different I had no idea until recently that I could be autistic and have adhd

I was both playing with my cabbage patch kid and reading victorian children's novels. :) I still have my cabbage patch kid now. Out of interest which books in particular did you read? I loved Little Women, What Katy Did and Secret Garden.

hi, i hope you don’t mind me replying. i’m 53 and was diagnosed last week. i was expecting some pushback from some family members but i have been very pleasantly surprised.

they have all responded with love and support. i was very surprised - i was expecting to be asked why so many people ‘want’ to be diagnosed ‘these days’ but so far so good! nobody was even surprised which was very telling - i clearly give away more than i realise.

i am also very much in the ‘bright but weird’ category. my peers were playing with Cabbage Patch dolls and i was reading Victorian children’s novels and trying to get everyone else to realise how interesting it was…

I hope you won't me mind joinng in; as I was born early 1950s. I can identify what you say. For me, a sense of dissociation from other children but also an awareness, even when very young, of being very self-contained, an individual. On one-hand, some general sadness and on the other, a busy mind discovering, wondering, deciding and making.  My assessment felt like some sort of enlightenment. 

i’m 53 and i just got diagnosed last week. when i was doing my paperwork i realised just how awful school was for me. 

born in 1973, i can clearly remember (i can remember everything that’s ever happened to me) feeling left out and not wanting to play with other children when i was at nursery school age 3. i started school at 3 and a half - i could already read when i got there!

i went to a private prep school with only 130 children. i was moved up a year when i was 7 so had to do ‘Upper 6th’ which was only four of us. moving up to secondary school was like being thrown into an industrial mincer. i was bullied and excluded and it was hell. pure hell. even my ‘best friend’ bullied me in front of other people for some of my mannerisms. i suppressed all of it, scraped 7 average GCSEs and disappointed my family forever by not passing my 11 Plus and going to my local comp. they expected great things from me but as i got older and was expected to learn independently, i just couldn’t do it. crashed out of my A Levels. the only one of five kids who never went into higher education, never went to uni, never made anything of myself. when i was 14 i started acting out and was just punished over and over until i left home at 17.

i’ve had jobs but never a career. i can’t keep my mouth shut if i can see someone not doing something right, and that’s not sustainable in an office environment. i worked from 17 to 39, when i had a spectacular breakdown and spent 5 weeks inpatient psych. i won a diagnosis of BPD and was put on a high dosage of antipsychotics. that was 15 years ago - i’m still on them now.

my diagnosis has set me free. i’ve been able to tell my family that i’m not bad, or defective. i didn’t just opt out of life - i did my best until i couldn’t do it anymore.

I was born in the 70s. My memories of childhood are brutal. Working class boys were expected to behave in a certain way, and I found the world a hostile and confusing place. Sometimes, I'd like to go back and find that boy, give him a hug and tell him that he's absolutely perfect the way he is. I tell my autistic son that all the time. 

Hi AnnMarilena I was also born in 70s. I was diagnosed last week.  After a LOT of reading after an seeing article earlier this year on how ASC is not well understood and as I read it... I realised "this is me". The National Autistic Society website was so helpful especially the lived experiences.

I always knew I was different - but I put it down to different reasons. "bright but weird" is a good description KinksFan  and what you say Nat7146  resonates too.  

The diagnoses means more of the world makes sense - it's like a light has been turned on.  Still processing it.  Mix of relief, fear, uncertainty, worry...  It's hard right now.

I also need to decide who to tell.  How have you all found sharing the news with family, friends and work? 

I am late diagnosed and born in the 1970s. I was in the class year  above during first school and then had to be with my age group and do an extra year there. I was always different but worked hard to fit in. I cried a lot, felt injustice very strongly and hated criticism of any kind, I would cry and cry and actually it still makes me cry quite uncontrollably. I loved being on my own playing g although I also felt lonely when I was in the playground. When I did have a friend for a short time, it always ended and I never knew why. 
I also was a tomboy and loved animals and my grandparents, who taught me quite complicated card games when I was little. 
looking back my childhood was hard but there were kind people around too. 

I am 53 and was born in March 1973 and autism came out in 1980 and Aspergers in 1993/1994. I had left school by the time aspergers came out. I left school in 1991.

I left a primary school at 8.5 where I had behavioural issues and some issues where linked to sensory sensitivity. That was is in 1981. I went into a new school with a different regime, but struggled to adjust and I had issues with my school work, although I was good at writing but had issues with grammar. I don't know where my communication would have made me be diagnosed as either condition before 2013 when the DSM 5 came out.

In my early childhood, I was more of a tomboy, but I did like some typical girl things. I didn’t though like very much female company as I preferred to play with the boys and I found my sister too emotional for me so may be this was a bit different. I was a headstrong child and quite fearless at times. I was probably level 2 or higher even in some areas.

You can learn to adapt and I was diagnosed as an adult with some level 1 and level 2 ‘s.

I am  quite introverted, but I am still headstrong but my story reads different from many here who describe themselves as shy as a girl when growing up.

I wonder when was a good age to born autistic? Is it really so much better now?

I am also nearly 50. I had my ASD assessment three weeks ago and am waiting for the results. I always felt different at school. Other children said I was weird.

I started masking heavily as a teenager (although I didn't have that term for it then) and have done so ever since. Although recently it has got harder to keep it up and I'm now signed off sick from work with stress.

My whole life is starting to make sense now in retrospect. I'm anxious that I won't get the diagnosis as then I still won't have ay explanation for the way I am.

Hi.  I like reading, doing jigsaws, diamond painting, animals (have a family dog), wordsearches, card making, playing with fidgets, cuddly toys, watching YouTube and listening to music. 

indeed, even now my colleagues at work can be so idiotic.

I hear you and know we had similar experences.

Welcome to the club, I was diagnosed 3 years ago and am still adjusting to what it means, I try and focus on a few things at a time and I'll just take each as they come. Ask yourself what does it mean for you........................

ha ha ha, thanks for making me laugh out loud today.

Im 53 got diagnosed 2005 always knew i was different in secondary school 

Hi AnnMarilena, 

I’m 49 like you, I was diagnosed with ASD last year. I have always struggled with social anxiety and have probably always felt different too. I have been struggling with anxiety and depression for some time and a lot of that is to do with feeling that I struggle having conversations with people. If you would like to chat feel free to DM me 

Oh my goodness hiiiiiIm a 1982 baby just got diagnosed with ASD(ADHD last year)so yeah a AuDHD girlie as its now known.Total alien for as long as I can remember but yeah very awesome to finally have a real answer as to why I do and say and think the way I do.Wasnt a shock but needed an actual medical professional to put the stamp on it so I could stop overthinking and putting it down to stress and over imagination(I have a huuuuuge imagination)But yeah,here to embrace all the beautiful parts of me that were stuffed down inside in fear of being mocked annow just wanna say " Helllooooo my ASD people"