To those who were diagnosed post 40, thinking back, what are some ‘autistic’ things you can now recall you used to do?
I had a flashback just now, of when I was about 5 at break in school. I used to enjoy observing the grass, and all the different types of plants that grew there. I especially liked clover, and would always try to find one with 4 leaves 
I liked the tiny insects as well. Also, I would always imitate sounds (still do, but not quite as often).
Yes, I think she most probably was on the spectrum. She would sometimes be sectioned and put in a mental health hospital for supposed depression and anxiety. Unfortunately about 12 years ago she was in a unit ,the usual was to keep patients heavily sedated so they weren’t a nuisance. Unfortunately no one had removed her false teeth. She choked to death in her sleep. She was the only relation that I’ve ever bonded with.
I used to read my encyclopaedia, thesaurus, atlas book and dictionary too! All that info. I used to have a book on world flags as well that I memorised.
I used to read anything factual such as a encyclopedias and atlases as well as dictionaries.
I wasn't really interested in stories or fiction. One exception to that was The Narnia Chronicles. I would read those over and over again. I think the idea of stepping through a wardrobe into another world really appealed to me. Even at a young age I knew that I didn't fit into this one.
I am a 58 year old adult growing up in the 60's and 70's in Ashington in Northumberland and Plaistow in London had a different experience, as our family there was little money growing up and don't remember much about birthday gifts but remember that board games were prevalent as they could be shared by my sisters and cousins. My favourite toy was a clockwork dalek. I always enjoyed looking at my mother's nursing books and would read encyclopedias, dictionaries, atlases and other reference books. My family moved three times by the age of 7 and thought when we moved from Ashington to Plaistow that we would only be living there for three years and then we would be moving back again. I also enjoyed looking at my father's sci-fi books. I struggled at school in Ashington and in Plaistow and was made to attend a child guidance clinic in Stratford London when I was living in Plaistow. In the schools in Plaistow and at a medical clinic I took IQ tests where I was told I had a low IQ. It took until last year that I received my dyslexia diagnosis.
Oh yes I would have been very happy if that were the case. I used to read everything I could, even the dictionary! I really wanted to learn.
I also interacted with adults much more than any other children. I remember that I used to visit several elderly neighbours and would happily talk to them for hours about my special interest.
Those so called 'therapies' sound horrendous. I had no idea that's what they did. I guess I did have a lucky escape.
It seems that way, thankfully my support worker suggested I make an appointment to see her manager who has much more experience dealing with mental health issues. When I saw the manager she had some understanding of my issues, and agreed with me that it would be a good idea for me to ask my GP for a referral to an occupational therapist, she also said she might assign a different support worker to me.
I wrote down pretty much my entire life story and examples of what's going on in my head to show to both my support worker and MindsMatter (when I'm able to self refer to them again) in hopes that I might be able to communicate all this better in writing than I can with speech. Maybe this time they'll all get it. Hopefully.
I used to collect all kinds of things, even really mundane things like leaflets. I had piles of them in a cupboard from anywhere that I ever went and I used to categorise them and organise them. When going on holiday, I used to want to go to places where I could obtain more leaflets.
Instead of playing games I used to fill up notebooks with well-organised lists of stats and categorised information about the game.
I preferred to be alone and do everything alone. Often my mum would have to tell other boys who knocked on the door asking if I was coming out to play that I was ill. I wasn't ill, I was just in my room and said I couldn't see anyone.
One day I told my mum that I really like trees, and then I bought every book I could find on trees, spent ages categorising them, drawing pictures of the leaf types, and asking to be taken to places where there were trees.
When I write this out, it's baffling how I was never diagnosed with autism. But I think in the 80s and 90s, it wasn't known about much and my parents were probably just happy that I was a quiet child who didn't get into trouble. And teachers also didn't notice someone who never spoke, they were more concerned with the noisy and naughty kids disrupting the lesson.
if she could see something that no one else could.
some autistic women are known for piercing gaze ability :P they used to call them witches <-- joke
serious now, When I lived with my granpa (my first 7 years), next house neighbour, some 800 m away, had a badly deformed daughter born, same day as my eldest sister, she is one year younger than I am,
In retrospection I can tell she was autistic, with serious intellectual barriers and badly twisted , deformed body, hands and feet. sentenced to wheelchair pushed by her mom for life, unable to speak, but I could tell back than, she was fully cognizant, her eyes were clear as water in a, hill stream.
But stupid villagers, roused by priest, everysingle one begun to ostracise the whole family, only my granpa talked to them, he said once, why wouldn't I if I pass their house going to that field of ours by the forest
at the age 5-6 I used to steal strawberries from their field, and feeling guilty after I would share some with that girl, they would usually leave her outside house in a wheelchair in the sun during the day, that was making her super excited, no maskibg, maximum joy, but my mom spotted me once and told me that I should stop bothering them because they have their hands ffull
I had that feeling sometimes, she could see straight through me, I'm 100% certaain she did recognise me, she didn't start showinbg happines when other people where near her,
so, what if she could seee I am autistic back than, I think my granpa knew too, and that he was autistic as well
I think someone neglected to train your support worker, and sadly it sounds like you'll have to train her.
Lol. It looked like the ones worn by university students in all the movies, not a mum's hand knitted one. I wanted to be one of those students in the movies.
Oh, so glad it wasn't just me then. Had school been a quiet place with books and pens, I dare say we'd have been quite happy.
No, in the 1970s if you were verbal and interacted with others at all - and I did interact with adults then autism wouldn't even cross their minds. Mind you, we maybe had a lucky escape. Some of the "therapies" for autistic kids; preventing stimming, forcing eye contact and hugs, would have been arguably more damaging than being misunderstood and "naughty". I remind my mother of that when she gets emotional about the fact that I never had any help - "help" like that we didn't need.
You have had a flashback to the 1970’s elasticated plimsolls! We didn’t need Nike.
One memory that always lives with me, and not in a bad way. When I was about 6 I had been to the dentist and gone into a meltdown. I got scolded for ages for bringing shame on the family. I had actually bitten the dentist. I had an aunt that I was very close to, I remember her taking me up to our orchard where there was two swings. She sat me down and said,”every now and then god makes someone who is different, who is special and that is you.” I always wonder if she could see something that no one else could. I don’t want this to be about god making people autistic, she was just a religious person.
Yep, I can identify with this. I went to school to learn. I couldn’t wait for nursery at 4.
Err, we sat in a circle and I was supposed to sing and join in, then hold hands ugh, and dance about. My god I hated every minute. Then we had some play outside with sand and water. Sensory issues much? 
That wasn’t school to me.
