Published on 12, July, 2020
I was diagnosed Autistic 3 weeks ago and I’ve only told a handful of people, I’ve put off telling my parents because I thought they wouldn’t believe me and I was right. Today my dad came to my house and we were on about secrets and as you autistic people know, we can’t lie, so I told him I had a secret and so he badgered me to tell him and I said I wanted to tell him and my mum together, but he kept pushing me and in the end I told him, he asked me what made me autistic and I explained about my social awkwardness and he just said that I was quiet. He didn’t stay much after that, which I thought was weird, would have thought he’d want to ask me lots of questions, as he was leaving he looked at my pots that were piled up and said, I guess you are gonna use this as an excuse now for being messy. He left for home and I know he would have definitely told my mum and she hasn’t bothered to phone to discuss, which I’m not too happy about. This experience has made me doubt my diagnosis and has left me feeling flat
Try not to question things, you've been diagnosed and that's not something that happens by accident.
Give them time to come to terms with it. I know it's not the response you wanted and it will have been bitterly disappointing not to have felt they immediately engaged with it and wanted to know more, but everyone processes things differently, they may well be shocked or unsure of what to say to avoid upsetting you.
There's a lot to process when you find out you're autistic, take your time and try not to get overwhelmed, I found it was (and still is) a time where emotions can be raw and flip from positive to negative. most people on here have gone through it so are there to help and offer guidance where we can.