Hi everyone,
I’m a member of this community, and I wanted to share a little about my personal experience. I’m hoping to connect with others who might be going through the same thing or something similar.
I’m now 35 years old, and two years ago I was diagnosed with autism, a learning disability, dyslexia traits and ADHD.
One of the things I struggle with most is how people perceive my ability to work, particularly in busy, fast-paced environments.
Something I often hear from my partner is: “You need to figure out why you can’t work in busy environments anymore when you used to do it before.”
The difficult part is that, before my diagnosis, working in those environments was incredibly challenging for me. Dealing with people, constant interaction, noise, pressure and overstimulation has always been a huge struggle. I was doing it, but that doesn’t mean it was easy or that I wasn’t struggling internally.
Now that I understand myself better and have a diagnosis, I feel like I’m finally recognising the difficulties I’ve been experiencing for years. However, it can be really upsetting when those difficulties are questioned or compared to what I was able to do in the past.
Just because I managed to work in those environments before doesn’t mean they were suitable for me or that I wasn’t struggling.
I sometimes feel guilty, misunderstood and even inadequate because of these conversations.
I’d really like to hear from others:
Has anyone experienced something similar? Have you found that, after receiving an autism or ADHD diagnosis as an adult, you started recognising that certain environments or situations that you previously tolerated were actually having a significant impact on you?
How do you deal with people close to you who struggle to understand that your needs and limitations are real, even if you managed to push through them in the past?
I’m not looking for sympathy, just understanding, shared experiences and perhaps some advice from people who genuinely understand what this feels like.
Thank you for taking the time to read my post.
