Tomorrow morning is part 2 (of 2) of my diagnosis. I am 42 now. I am pretty sure myself that I am autistic, I have not found a better explanation for my life being the “shape” that it is.
I would be gutted if a professional decided that I do not belong here though. Fingers crossed that I have guessed right, and that the doc see me as I am, not just my mask.
(Apologies for crosspost. Did not realise this community existed until after posting at autism@lemmy.world)
Edit: just to follow up on this. I have just been diagnosed with Autism. I am extremely relieved. He was very casual about it, and very supportive. We also talked a lot about PDA, he said that describes a lot of my work and life challenges. I’m seeing him again in about 10 days where hopefully he can give me a bit of advice about what to do with this info. Thanks to all of you that commented.
You must log in or register to comment.
Good luck! Please tell us how it went, I hopefully will reach the same point as you at some point so your experience interests me.
I got diagnosed in mid-life too…well, I got re-diagnosed at mid-life. That’s when I found out. However, I was almost certainly diagnosed as a kid, but no one told me. Anywayzzz, finding out has been a major journey of self-discovery. I always knew I was different. I would mention it frequently, like saying, “That’s how I see it, but I know I’m different.” or, “I don’t know how I messed that up. I think I’m kinda ret----d.” I also noticed that other people would know I was odd in social settings and sometimes they would be amazed by things I did that didn’t even register for me since I thought they were unremarkable. Now that I have a name for it and there’s so much info on it, it’s been quite helpful. Rather than always feeling different, I can adjust and connect with others that are similar. I can also make changes to my life that help me function better and be happier. Sensory overload adjustments have made a world of a difference. Also, being aware that I have certain social disadvantages has helped me slowly develop strategies to make up for them.
As far as the assessment, I was nervous for like a month stressing out that they would say I wasn’t autistic, just weird. I think that feeling is part of it. We’ve felt weird our whole lives, so of course it is going to be hard to believe that we found a name and community for people like us. Still, if you’re pretty confident you’re autistic, then I think you’re likely autistic, so there isn’t much to worry about there.
Congrats on the self-discovery and good luck tomorrow! Let us know how it turns out.
