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Family struggles

Kaijuwrangler54

Hi everyone,

I wanted to share something that's been weighing on me lately. My family has never really taken much interest in me as a person, and that includes my autism. I feel like they don’t want to understand me, or even try.

Theres just basically no contact just wondering if anyone else is the same, any shared experiences or just any advice?

Thanks for reading

Parents

  • I don't see any of my remaining family. They never knew I was on the spectrum as I didn't discover that until I was in my fifties (I'm mid sixties now). But they always seemed to have a different idea about who I was / what I should be /how I should be, than what I knew was me. 

    I'm very lucky to have a long term partner who's always accepted me as I am. I don't think that seeing family just because it's expected is a good thing, if it makes you uncomfortable. 

  • in reply to Lotus

    This describes my situation as well. I feel fortunate as I have a partner too but I regret not having had a better relationship with my family.  I think my mum may have benefitted from an assessment but that wasn't an option at the time.  My family were also very religious and although I think religion is personal and may have its place, at the time it made the situation much harder. How much difference having a diagnosis as a child or adolescent would have made I don't know, perhaps it may have helped me understand why I was often scared and felt isolated. That I wasn't broken or crazy but I just processed things differently and maybe that was ok.

    I think accepting yourself in your own skin, warts and all is important, not everyone understands that being different, being autistic is a struggle but those that do give you the opportunity to be yourself and you can relate to make it worth while. But for those that don't, sometimes I think its best just to let go.

Reply
  • in reply to Lotus

    This describes my situation as well. I feel fortunate as I have a partner too but I regret not having had a better relationship with my family.  I think my mum may have benefitted from an assessment but that wasn't an option at the time.  My family were also very religious and although I think religion is personal and may have its place, at the time it made the situation much harder. How much difference having a diagnosis as a child or adolescent would have made I don't know, perhaps it may have helped me understand why I was often scared and felt isolated. That I wasn't broken or crazy but I just processed things differently and maybe that was ok.

    I think accepting yourself in your own skin, warts and all is important, not everyone understands that being different, being autistic is a struggle but those that do give you the opportunity to be yourself and you can relate to make it worth while. But for those that don't, sometimes I think its best just to let go.

Children
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