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This summer I found out I’m autistic. I’m 60 years old.
Late diagnosis sucks in a way. You finally understand why you’ve had so many difficulties in life. Why you maybe didn’t fit in, why people treated you differently, etc. I mean, it’s such a relief when you understand why you had all those issues, but the other side of that coin is that you also understand how much of your life was lost to the untreated and misunderstood part of you. Maybe people get physical and/or verbal abuse as children because parents can’t get a diagnosis because they don’t understand, or think you can be forced to be “normal”. Peers don’t get you, you’re the wierd kid, friendships are difficult. Missing out on connections that can help move your life forward. Lots of stress and anxiety.
It good to know now, but it hurts to know that life could have probably been different if you’d been understood and been offered tools to help yourself.
I'm only 27, but may have undiagnosed ADD. My schooling, career and health continue to be harmed by stuff I just can't seem to get control over. Always been this way. I expect to die of heart disease while reaching for 30s.
I gotta ask, if you’re so sure, why don’t you seek treatment? Take a couple online tests to try to get a measure of it and go from there. I know it’s hard to force yourself out of a rut with ADHD, but screw leaving it untreated.
Bold of you to assume I haven't. I'm on a waiting list for diagnosis right now. Ironically the same institution who fucked up my diagnosis in 2004. But they were the only place that had a 30 day, instead of a 30 weeks waiting list.
Why would I assume you’ve sought treatment when you stated you were undiagnosed? Nothing bold about that at all based on the provided information.
My daughter swears I’m autistic. I was talking to her this morning and said, “I spent every year with my desk right by the the teacher’s desk. I would have wondered if they all got together and planned it, but that’s where I was at, multiple schools in different states.”
She replied, “Dad, go get diagnosed. Seriously.”
Do you find it helpful to have a diagnosis, or would you have preferred to just be "weird"?
Did the discovery have any deep impact on your life?
For context: I'm asking this because I'm socially close to a woman roughly in your age range that shows clear signs of autism, and I don't know if I should encourage her to get diagnosed.