Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello people. I've just been diagnosed after 56 years of feeling like an alien, 35 years going through the mental health system that consistently failed to notice what might be the matter, and having a messed up working life because of my problems, which has left to low income and low prospects despite my IQ of 154. As my worst stresser is noise I have moved on average every 2 years since I hit 21 and left the parental home. It's been a tough journey, with some bright patches, and I guess most of you here will understand what I have tried to explain to various 'professionals' down the years, who have been totally nonplussed by my attempts to explain how life feels for me - i.e. in the right environment I function 100%, in the wrong one I fall apart. My response to getting this late diagnosis is one of relief, and to finally start pulling together my life story for publication. Since childhood I've always been told I'm a gifted writer, so here's a way of doing something I hope will be catharctic. (I also love to sing and used to write my own music). Since day to day living continues to be a huge and exhausting battle, and with little hope of respite on the horizon (no money, no home of my own, no sign of work having been pushed out of a job in July because I could no longer cope in the environment) things are not looking good, but I am prepared to keep on keeping on because that's all I know how to do. I know one other Aspie, he lives in the Orkneys, and I'm in the Midlands so feel pretty isolated here. Having a particularly bad day so coming here to 'talk' where I will be understood. Thanks for reading. xx
There are quite a few people emerging from the mental health system having been misdiagnosed for many years. Psychiatry is a terribly inexact "science" and people with autism often present with symptoms that obscure the true cause that, 30 years ago, was largely unrecognised.
I'm sure that my father (and his father) were also affected but people just thought of them as eccentrics and that depression could just be treated with drugs. Things are changing but it seems to be a painfully slow process and people's lives are being ruined due to the lack of recognition.