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
I won't be telling my family about my diagnosis as they will judge me according to their idea of autism, which is the one shown in the media.
I'm pretty sure my mum is autistic, but it wouldn't do any good to point this out to her, she just does things in her own way. She's in her 70s and has coped without knowing, or needing to know. However it means I understand some of her previous behaviour, particularly when I was a child, much better. This has helped me forgive, if not forget, some of the things that happened.