Hello everone, I'm glad I found this part of the forum and the explanation about your posts being moderated as newbie. I dived in earlier and replied to a post where I though the OP was really struggling. When I got a message to say my post was being moderated I worried a bit. I thought I'd said something wrong and was too autistic for a autistic forum! 
Anyway, I got AI to help me choose a username, it suggested it after I told tem a few interests including liking watching Star Trek: Voyager. Loved the suggestion so went with it.
I'm 52 years old and female. I wasn't diagnosed autistic until a couple of years ago. It was actually being on another forum where there was lots of 'Am I autistic?' type posts that I kept thinking, 'Hang on a minute, I do that! and that, and that!' I was just sent a letter after the two assessments to say I was autistic, a link to a website and that was it. I didn't do much about the diagnosis since then as I have lived my life so long I didn't realise a lot of my day is actually taken up by being autistic! I discovered this a day or so ago by having a convesation with google about sleep. I learned I wasn't lazy, I have sleep inertia, that I can't sleep earlier as autistiic people have an later circadian rhythm, that the need to stretch my legs in the night that wakes me when I do sleep is restless legs and a lot of autistic people have it. That I get 'stuck' mentally and physically, task changng problems, relaxing problem...etc
I went a bit nuts on Amazon and have ordered a book, weighted blanket, a visual progress bar timer and a Ono roller. I already had one weighted blanket and a squeazy/stress ball to all try and help.
I have agoraphobia (Panic attacks away from home.) so don''t go out. I spend some of my time (And I have discovered it's a form of stimming.) knitting. I make Christmmas decorations, chocolate orange covers, dragons, I knitted my sibling a 2 ft gargoyle for their birthday. 
(They loved it, haven't come up with a name for it yet though.) Robins, snowmen, elves...I would say I've never knitted a scarf but that would be a lie, my sister in law asked me to make her three dogs a scarf with our local teams football colours when our team was in some cup or other. No, I don't follow football. 
I think Ive waffled on enough for now. 
I look forward to 'meeting' fellow forum users and engaging with some chat.
