Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I've been recently diagnosed with autism at the age of 20 (now 21) and I'm still really confused and overwhelmed by everything. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that I'm autistic and I often struggle to recognize myself being different to allistic people - even tho I am which makes seeing my needs or even recognizing what my needs are even more complicated and confusing
I don't know if I'm really autistic or if I just think I am - At first I felt relieved about the diagnosis because it finally made sense, but now I just doubt myself. Especially because a lot of people that I talked to about my autism diagnosis (even a therapist), told me that I should be careful and cautious of a diagnosis. And I'm just really confused? They often tell me that it's just a matter of will power. This just gives me so much anxiety, like am I just pretending? Even if I'm not autistic I still struggle don't I? Does anyone relate or is it just me?
I hope this somehow makes sense. If anyone can help me with this I'd be super thankful.
Btw sorry if there's any mistakes, english is not my first language.
Hi. I was diagnosed last year at the age of 52 and have at times felt like a fraud. But I've always felt different and have faced massive struggles in life that have, to be honest, ruined my life. So am I really a fraud? No, I don't think so. And in both our cases neither did qualified professionals.
NAS91805 said:Even if I'm not autistic I still struggle don't I?
This is an interesting point. When I went to receive the results of my assessment, the psychologist asked me what result I was hoping for and how I would feel about it. I said that there is no good answer, because either way I was clearly still struggling and a yes or a no wouldn't change that.
I would say however that in the 9 months or so since my diagnosis I have felt a little more hopeless because now I know that no matter how much I try to "pull myself together" there are fundamental limits to what I am capable of.