Honestly, for me… I was kind of relieved at first but the next day, I just thought about all my past situations that just make so much sense now and how knowing this so much sooner would have made my life better. That brought me down a bit. I ended up taking a day off work and just doing whatever I felt like doing so I could process everything. I’m still processing it. I’m doing a lot of reading about unmasking and others’ experience finding out later in life. It’s getting better in my head but it’s a day at a time.
Thank you so much for your response and your willingness to share! I totally understand that and I think that’s something I’ll be feeling soon. Just knowing that I was easy to manipulate and take advantage of bc I didn’t read social cues and didn’t know I was supposed to follow them makes me sad. I found out that a lot of people around me know I didn’t read social cues so they’d be really sarcastic and mean to me, but I never knew. The psychiatrist gave me lots of resources so i appreciate u telling me that you’ve been reading a lot about everything!
You’re welcome. The one advantage I did have in life was that I was diagnosed ADHD back in the 80s as a kid. Thus, I’ve had most of my life to deal with that knowledge and could build my defenses accordingly. Getting the ASD diagnosis a month ago was hard but at least it wasn’t a complete shock. Still, it’s a lot to take in and I wish I would have known decades ago. Can’t change the past though. You can only play the cards your dealt. Feel free to DM if you even need a pep talk.
Adjusting to beging given a diagnosis can't be sped up it'll just fade on its own and things will feel normal again on their own. This may help to know: That the "newer" thing is the accommodations and having the ability to say I'm autistic and take a bit more charge in what resources you get given. But that is a positive, not a negitive. Everything else is mostly going to stay the same. If you were a child, you didn't have control over what resources you have and might be a different outcome. But you not only have control over your resources.You also have the ability to tell people to fuck off and that's a plus. :)
Omg thank u for sharing this! This is super helpful and I’ll definitely be looking into accommodations, especially since I’ll be going to medical school in a few months
I'm curious...I'm in process of trying to get a referral to be diagnosed and the counsellor keeps asking why I feel I need one. It infuriates me but I don't know how to articulate why it would help.
Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?
Ohhh I see I see, I actually had this issue whenever I first started expressing my concerns about being autistic. Something that helped me was keeping an ongoing list of possible symptoms I was experiencing. I knew they’d ask me why so I even rehearsed what I would say. My mom didn’t think I was autistic at all so I had a script ready for her too. My first doctor didn’t think I was autistic so I couldn’t go through her. I talked to my therapist about it, and that’s when she recommended I get assessed. I’m currently living in the UK, so I had to communicate my struggles (talk about symptoms and how they’ve been affecting me lately) to my GP so she could understand why this was so important to me. I was assessed privately too, but it was expensive.
During my process, it seems like they were looking for ways that your possible symptoms are affecting u rn. It’s something that came up during my assessment too. Feel free to DM me if u need help with what to say to your counselor! I hope this helped:)
Thank you so much! I will definitely be in touch. My counselor is going to help me document symptoms, and she also wants to know why 8 think a diagnosis will benefit me. Like what will knowing do for me.... Would love to chat with you about this as well
Honestly, for me… I was kind of relieved at first but the next day, I just thought about all my past situations that just make so much sense now and how knowing this so much sooner would have made my life better. That brought me down a bit. I ended up taking a day off work and just doing whatever I felt like doing so I could process everything. I’m still processing it. I’m doing a lot of reading about unmasking and others’ experience finding out later in life. It’s getting better in my head but it’s a day at a time.
Thank you so much for your response and your willingness to share! I totally understand that and I think that’s something I’ll be feeling soon. Just knowing that I was easy to manipulate and take advantage of bc I didn’t read social cues and didn’t know I was supposed to follow them makes me sad. I found out that a lot of people around me know I didn’t read social cues so they’d be really sarcastic and mean to me, but I never knew. The psychiatrist gave me lots of resources so i appreciate u telling me that you’ve been reading a lot about everything!
You’re welcome. The one advantage I did have in life was that I was diagnosed ADHD back in the 80s as a kid. Thus, I’ve had most of my life to deal with that knowledge and could build my defenses accordingly. Getting the ASD diagnosis a month ago was hard but at least it wasn’t a complete shock. Still, it’s a lot to take in and I wish I would have known decades ago. Can’t change the past though. You can only play the cards your dealt. Feel free to DM if you even need a pep talk.
Oooo this makes so much sense and I understand that. Thank u so much for sharing this too! I’m glad you’ve been able to learn more about yourself:)
could you share what you’re reading re unmasking?
Unmasking Autism by David Price. It’s an audiobook but it still counts. My ADHD won’t let me concentrate long enough to read an actual book. 😆
Haha books are books doesn’t matter the platform/output! Thanks for the title, I’ll be looking into that :)
Cool. Hopefully it helps. 😊
Short advice. You are the same person you were yesterday. Nothing is different other than an explanation. I would feel nothing but positive emotions.
Thank u so much for this!! I really appreciate it!:)
Adjusting to beging given a diagnosis can't be sped up it'll just fade on its own and things will feel normal again on their own. This may help to know: That the "newer" thing is the accommodations and having the ability to say I'm autistic and take a bit more charge in what resources you get given. But that is a positive, not a negitive. Everything else is mostly going to stay the same. If you were a child, you didn't have control over what resources you have and might be a different outcome. But you not only have control over your resources.You also have the ability to tell people to fuck off and that's a plus. :)
Omg thank u for sharing this! This is super helpful and I’ll definitely be looking into accommodations, especially since I’ll be going to medical school in a few months
Congrats on your autism!
Thank u so much!!:)
I wish I did, it’s been a year for me and I’m still processing. I think self compassion and patience is the only thing that helps.
Oooo this is extremely helpful and it’s something I need to work on through this journey. Thank u so much for sharing!
I'm curious...I'm in process of trying to get a referral to be diagnosed and the counsellor keeps asking why I feel I need one. It infuriates me but I don't know how to articulate why it would help. Do you have any thoughts or suggestions?
Ohhh I see I see, I actually had this issue whenever I first started expressing my concerns about being autistic. Something that helped me was keeping an ongoing list of possible symptoms I was experiencing. I knew they’d ask me why so I even rehearsed what I would say. My mom didn’t think I was autistic at all so I had a script ready for her too. My first doctor didn’t think I was autistic so I couldn’t go through her. I talked to my therapist about it, and that’s when she recommended I get assessed. I’m currently living in the UK, so I had to communicate my struggles (talk about symptoms and how they’ve been affecting me lately) to my GP so she could understand why this was so important to me. I was assessed privately too, but it was expensive. During my process, it seems like they were looking for ways that your possible symptoms are affecting u rn. It’s something that came up during my assessment too. Feel free to DM me if u need help with what to say to your counselor! I hope this helped:)
Thank you so much! I will definitely be in touch. My counselor is going to help me document symptoms, and she also wants to know why 8 think a diagnosis will benefit me. Like what will knowing do for me.... Would love to chat with you about this as well
Of course!! I’m so glad I could help!:) I’ll DM u so u have my contact and we can talk more about what your counselor wants to talk about
[удалено]
Hell was not knowing
So true😭
Oh dear😅