i agree. in my own experience, a whole lot of things started to make sense and i was able to make the accommodations in my life to deal- where before, i was on a long slow path to decline and burnout
Thank you for sharing your insights on this subject. It will be helpful for a lot of people. Especially the older adults just learning about themselves.
I agree with you on the pros and cons. On the whole diagnosis is good because it helps us better understand our lives, skills and experiences. It means we can be better supported and potentially achieve much more. Unfortunately there is the risk that a diagnosis becomes a label which others use to discriminate against us. Sometimes that is inadvertent such as when a teacher doesn't push a child who is autistic because they see autism as a limit on what they can do. Occasionally someone who knows they have autism doesn't push themselves, wrongly believing there are things they can't do at all. Ultimately being aware of a diagnosis should be used to understand how an autistic person thinks and acts, not to limit what they can do.
For example many autistic people find learning to drive difficult. A learner-driver who doesn't know they have autism may wrongly blame themselves and believe they aren't paying attention and an instructor who doesn't know about autism might believe the same. If the learner-driver knows they have autism they realise that it can create problems with spatial skills, etc, that make driving harder. It would be wrong if the learner or instructor decided autism made driving impossible; instead they can understand that it means learning may take more time and struggles shouldn't be judged so harshly. Autism can slow learning of some skills but it doesn't mean those skills can't be learned ultimately to a high standard.
I was late diagnosed, prior to that my parents told me I just wasn't very clever. But I knew I was. So I pushed myself to succeed at things. I don't know what I would have been like with an early diagnosis but I agree, no point wondering too much, it doesn't change anything. Video request: interview your other half on the pros and cons of being with an autistic person 😊
I was just diagnosed at 40. Looking back if I would have been diagnosed earlier, I would have avoided so many embarrassing things that have gone wrong over the years. The earlier someone knows the better IMHO. BTW my meltdowns are are complete yelling freak outs. That was always fun to not understand.
I was just diagnosed and I just turned 32. I really enjoy listening to other peoples experiences about late diagnosis. Beforehand it really makes you feel guilty and alone. I don't know if you have already covered this or not but what were your strengths in school? I was a master at math but pretty much every where else I struggled. Like English is the only language I can speak but I'm terrible at it. Thank God for spell check.
We went to the same university and lived in flats next to each other, we got to know each other more by mutual friends, E.g my then friend lived in his flat so I ran into him whilst over there quite a lot etc 😊
