At 50 I am a self diagnosed autistic person. I am also an Asian male, which is not usually seen as a demographic that sees a lot of autistic people. My family doesn’t believe it, but autism explains everything I have experienced in my life.
Congrats on finding your truth. 🧡 There is definitely an under-representation of Asian people in the Autistic community - I wish there was much more diversity of people on RU-vid tbh.
Speaking as an Asian-American male, figuring out that I was autistic was very difficult. One one hand, autistic people are especially looked down upon in the Asian community, yet they are more acceptable of autistic traits. For example, it is considered to be rude to make eye contact. Another example is that loud voices are more acceptable in Asian culture than in America. Thus, it is probably harder to distinguish who is autistic in asian culture. Moreover, I have to distinguish between racism and ableism. Is my social rejection due to racism or is it due to ableism? Now that I have a formal diagnosis, I know that both ableism and racism were factors.
@@edwardsong7628 I’m deaf, but growing up I could hear a lot better. I was still sensitive to loud noise. My family does talk loud and it hurt my ears, and lights were very bright to me as well. For me, it’s very difficult to figure out if it’s cultural.
Thank you for representing the late Dx, middle age demographic. I became aware and claimed self-Dx at 40. Reading and tuning into other Auts, such as yourself, it’s help my own world make sense.
I told my GP that I thought I might be autistic, and she said that since I don't need a referral and there's no medicine for it anyway, there's nothing she can do to help. So I am on my own if I want to (a) find someone who assesses adults and (b) pay out the ear for it. In the US, most insurance plans don't cover assessments for adults, and they can easily run over $2k. That's a lot of money just to "be sure." Instead, I content myself with being 95% sure and continuing to research. Looking back through my past with autism in mind, it would certainly explain a lot about my life thus far. And the more I understand myself, the less I blame myself. Anyway, I just found your channel, and I am enjoying it a lot thus far. Great work!
I'm glad you've found your own truth. Self diagnosis is completely valid as ultimately it's all about understanding ourselves better and, as you say, helping us to stop blaming ourselves for not fitting in, etc. 🧡
i'm thinking with this newer information on the Autism Spectrum, the long waiting lists, that the percentage of the population must be a lot higher than 3%. I doubt I will ever be able to get a formal diagnosis in US. I've done extensive research, taken all the tests, read many books, watched documentaries and videos here. I know I am on the spectrum. So what do I do with this information? I keep it to myself but more importantly, I learn who I am, I learn how to be in the world and be myself more and more (I'm in my late 50s). I think the most important thing is to love myself and figure out what my stressors are and how to work around them. It's quite an adventure. Telling family I am or have austism was not helpful. But I don't communicate with them much since then. I don't blame them for not believing me because we just have hollywood's take on austism (so to speak), so why would they believe me? Their lack of questions or concern is why I rarely communicate with them now.
Sadly, I suspect this is a very common scenario. And yes, the % of Autistic people is way out. A study by the CDC found that up to 1 in 36 children were on the spectrum, so if this is anywhere near the actual number of autistic children, there's a BIG catch-up due within the adult population.
Just got my formal diagnosis a few weeks ago at age 62. In the United States, getting an autism late-diagnosis is not covered by insurance and can be expensive, but can also be quicker than in other countries. My assessment process took about three months. The biggest fear is not to get a positive autism diagnosis. My assessor really explored whether I was psychopathic, schizoid, or had other mental disorders. Thus, an assessment can be very high risk if you identify as being autistic. My biggest benefit of getting the diagnosis is simply making sense of my life.
My testing was referred by the Vocational Rehab due to that I am deaf/Hard of hearing. They went ahead and referred me to a licensed psychologist for a 4-hour-long test for Autism and ADHD. The results took 2.5 weeks which I already knew deep down inside. Both of my Adult kids have Autism, and it was my daughter's suggestion that I should be evaluated.
I would also try a "real world" test. Take a look at people that have been diagnosed as autistic. If you feel a connection or if you can understand their actions and how their environment plays a role in it then you may be autistic. My first clue was when I would see people out in the wild that would be showing signs of problems and I would be able to look at them and understand it immediately. Others around me were oblivious.
What was it that you recalled from childhood? They told me I couldn't be autistic because I couldn;t think of whatever they wanted. Before that, they thought I was... I am chronically tired also which is from not sleeping due to my husband snoringand talking and moving around. Thank God he is neurodivergent so we understand each other. I wear earplugs but they hurt after a while so I go without. I need to get a better plan with them
in the US not all psychologist/psychiatrists are qualified to assess autism and even autism organizations that are designed to 'help' autistics don't always know who is assessing and who is not.
Thanks for sharing your video's and all your experiences from your journey. So much of it resonates with me. I have only told my close family and thankfully they are trying to support. My mum did ask me the other day if there was medication I could take to help. I had to explain that any medication would only be to treat the co-morbid health issues eg: anxiety or depression as autism is the development of the brain which can't be changed. I am 51 and going through the assessment process so it's so reassuring for me to hear how you have such similar thoughts and feelings about it all. You made a good point about unmasking because it is so hard too after spending your life doing it and it almost becomes hard to tell where you start and the mask ends. I think being gentle with ourselves and taking time to adjust is good advice as you said.😊
I'm so sorry to hear that. I've finally found the right counsellor, after 6 failed (quite long term) attempts with other counsellors. Its really worth persevering if you're able to 🙂💕
@@cupofteawithpoetry That's great to hear. I know therapy really works for some autistics and, as you say, it's often about finding the right therapist who understands autism. 🧡
Sorry if you mentioned this and I missed it but, I'd heard that an IQ test is part of the ASD assessment. Is this true? Waiting lists aside, I'm put off applying for an assessment because I'm really scared about discovering my IQ score. Thanks.
Thank you for the 'inside our autistic minds minds' recommendation, gonna watch it after this (Fern Brady's book is so good 'for anyone' thoroughly recommend the audiobook, hearing her speak it is GREAT). I am 3 months into figuring this all our for myself and trying to gain GOOD information, your channel has been lovely and helpful. Best Wishes
Would you mind sharing how you got a MCAS diagnosis, like what sort of healthcare professional you saw? I think my son has this (he's also hypermobile and has autistic traits) P.s. Great videos
I had to go privately unfortunately as the NHS doesn't recognise MCAS. It's worth joining some MCAS facebook groups for recommendations on specialists or if you're in the UK you could contact Mast Cell Action for guidance (and thank you!)
Agreed! I was super nervous, though I didn't really notice until a few days before - I've never been so thankful for Alexithymia! LOL They spent a good few hours on everything and I just bulled through b/c I wanted to know.
I breathed a sigh of relief when I heard her say she had a partner. There were so many worrying thoughts about how you manage when the healthcare system isn't that great. Pheww! I'm good you have someone who understands you. ❤
Aww, I feel very supported. 🧡 I wanted to include an honest account for those who might feel that accessing an evaluation would be too difficult (i.e.if they don't have anyone from their childhood who could complete a supporting form) as it *is* possible, but I agree, the lack of support during and post-diagnosis could be really difficult for some people.
Has research made any progress on the question in how far monotropism is a reliable indicator for autism? I'm still at the point, where they sort of disclaim it away by saying the MQ test should not be treated as a diagnostic tool for autism.
Not that I'm aware, and absolutely, it shouldn't be treated as a diagnostic tool. I included it in the list as I think it asks some interesting questions and could provide almost some 'anecdotal evidence' of how our brains can work differently (as my score was hugely different from my partner's) - but you've reminded me to make this clear next to the link in description 👍
@@CreativeAutistic, fair enough, and absolutely no blame intended. I find the monotropism idea quite promising, and if there were studies which clearly showed that you *can* spot autistics with the MQ by 90 percent probability or something of the sort, how great would that be? I'm just wondering for myself, trying to make sense out of different online test results. AQ puts me in the middle 30ies, MQ is higher than 4, but aspie test for some reason leads to a not so very clear positive. So it's all a bit weird, figuring out if this is just the individual differences concurring with "spectrality", or if I'm monotropic but not autistic, or if it's learned masking or whatever.
Agreed, it would be great to somehow have a 'reliable indicator' as it can take so much time, headspace and energy for a person to work out if they could be autistic.
