Newly diagnosed later in life and post diagnosis support

So I clicked on this thread as I'm newly diagnosed and of a similar age myself. However,  reading it I'm confused as to whether you're looking for support or questioning your diagnosis?

Both are valid questions, but if you don't accept the diagnosis, I'm struggling for how you would find support for it.

Honestly Joe, irrespective of whether you question or embrace a diagnosis, I do not believe there is any support for a late diagnosed adult.  This is my understanding.

Yes I haven't been able to find support for being late diagnosed. So I'm looking at where or how I might need support around specific issues.

Yes I haven't been able to find support for being late diagnosed. So I'm looking at where or how I might need support around specific issues.

That must all be very traumatic and not the support you need at all! 

In addition to keep engaging on here, I suggest you join a local autism support group. Google should help you find one, or maybe start a new thread and there might be folks on here that can point you to groups they know in the Manchester area. 

It's sadly true that there are not a lot of resources available for people that have been diagnosed with Autims as an adult. 

I have found some great podcasts and youtube channels and also read books on the topic. 

This is the problem for older late diagnosis adults, we have no idea exactly what post-diagnostic support we might want or need, including in a workplace setting, regardless of any versions of Autism, some of which I looked at in the link and click through links from Mod Chloe - even if it’s PDA/avoidance and/or high-functioning Autism, etc, some of the support (seems) inappropriate and other support for adults appear to want to teach you to re-learn everything all over again, (almost) like “teaching people to suck eggs” as most autism support is generally geared towards children with the condition and not adults with late diagnosis, even in the private sector (which in any case is very expensive) - in my own case, I did wonder about the true motivations of certain family members in Ireland who were trying to steer me towards a later in life diagnosis before 2019, even though I had done some research beforehand, given my own childhood and background, where I had been in a residential centre for 9 months as a child involving childhood school bullying in the 1970’s and early 1980’s, where bullying was seen as a rite of passage and you were supposed to take it and go through it as being (somehow) “deserved” as a form of discipline - we know that a common denial tactic of bullies, including but not limited to workplace bullies, is to say that those who are bullied do not understand the difference between bullying and discipline and are dismissed as having “mental health issues” and/or “behavioural issues” - I often wonder if a residential placement (autism boot camp) and/or work placement programme, coupled with greater understanding of the condition in the wider society generally are possible solutions, as we know that there appears to be a greater incidence of Autism/ASD within the LGBT community - I’ve heard about the Access To Work, but again I don’t know what I’d want nor need, even if I’m in the wrong type of job for my condition - given my 30 years supermarket retail experience (not by choice) I’ve no other relevant work/life experience or qualifications, even with training, to move into another job considered more appropriate for my condition - it has also been said to me over the years that I do not understand that I am wrong and that I do not understand the concepts of discipline and of “common sense” because of lack of “proper” parental discipline in childhood as maintained by my grandparents generation, who were strong advocates of corporal punishment to correct “bad” behaviour in children, where children were to be “seen and not heard” - in school, we were punished via corporal punishment for being bullied as children and any adult support for late diagnosis adults is only geared towards severe autism, not “high-functioning” autism and appears to make certain assumptions about an individual’s IQ and/or level of intelligence from what I’ve seen online, which does not appear to take into account people’s lived life experiences up to a certain point, including religious, social, cultural and other differences