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Autism diagnosis - what now?

I got diagnosed age 20 (21 in June) with autism spectrum disorder/Aspergers earlier this week. I kind of expected it to feel like a bigger deal than it does? I'd suspected that I'm autistic for years and felt disabled, but I only got referred to see a specialist in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders at a clinic last year, and I finally got my first appointment about a year later. Anybody else who got a diagnosis late - do you feel like it's changed your life much? Or do you just think of it as another label, not of great significance?

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Reply 1
you may have autism ...but it is another label and shouldn't change who u really are......live like you would
I've not gone to uni yet so I know it should have academic implications in terms of the amount of support I'm entitled to, but other than that, like... I don't know who to tell? I'm not sure how useful just saying 'I have autism' will be if I want to communicate the difficulties I have to people, as I don't have a stereotypical presentation (hence my late diagnosis).
Reply 3
tell people who should know , e.g teachers, uni , friends..i do think they might understand any difficulties
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by NomNoms
tell people who should know , e.g teachers, uni , friends..i do think they might understand any difficulties


But like, is it worth telling people who I've newly met who I may or may not become friends with? I feel like if I do that it might get rid of people who I don't want in my life. Like, I've mentioned having mental illness to people before after speaking to them for awhile and then they've gone strange. I think if someone I meet doesn't want to be around someone with a mental health diagnosis or an autism diagnosis, I'd probably rather them know I have those things pretty soon after meeting them. My situation at college at the moment is I'm not 'out' to any of my classmates about having MH issues or autism (my course started in September) as I feel that they are ignorant and stigmatise those things a lot. The situation is really not ideal. I don't feel like I can be myself around them.
Reply 5
personally I think you should tell them , about having autism ..just so they can know and you can be yourself around them .Trust me not everyone is ignorant and soon they will even forget that you mentioned that you were autistic... I have seen it happen with my friend she had Bipolar disorder , and she did tell everyone, but it didn't affect how people saw her ,she was never stigmatized. you might as well get it over and done with ...but it is your choice , and if you decide not to am sure they would never know you have autism. I hope this helps
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by NomNoms
personally I think you should tell them , about having autism ..just so they can know and you can be yourself around them .Trust me not everyone is ignorant and soon they will even forget that you mentioned that you were autistic... I have seen it happen with my friend she had Bipolar disorder , and she did tell everyone, but it didn't affect how people saw her ,she was never stigmatized. you might as well get it over and done with ...but it is your choice , and if you decide not to am sure they would never know you have autism. I hope this helps

nvm
(edited 7 years ago)
Original post by NomNoms
personally I think you should tell them , about having autism ..just so they can know and you can be yourself around them .Trust me not everyone is ignorant and soon they will even forget that you mentioned that you were autistic... I have seen it happen with my friend she had Bipolar disorder , and she did tell everyone, but it didn't affect how people saw her ,she was never stigmatized. you might as well get it over and done with ...but it is your choice , and if you decide not to am sure they would never know you have autism. I hope this helps


deleted.

I'll message you x
Reasearch and find out as much about it as possible and the best strageies to deal with it. You need to understand how it affects you and have an open mind, becayse what you see might be differnt to what others do.
Reply 9
good luck, i hope it goes well for u
(edited 7 years ago)
What kind of support have you received? I'm planning on going to Warwick Uni.
One thing I've heard of people needing is written instructions. I know that would help me (accompanied by spoken instructions - but if I'm just told stuff I don't remember it).
Tell teachers. If you've gotten to 20 without anyone really picking up on it then I assume its quite mild, I wouldnt use it as an opener, it might make people avoid you, or make them feel guilt-tripped into being nnice to you because they dont want to be seen as "the douchebag that stopped talking to the autistic kid because he found out he was autistic."
Original post by disandsexstudy
One thing I've heard of people needing is written instructions. I know that would help me (accompanied by spoken instructions - but if I'm just told stuff I don't remember it).


omg i'm just like that too!!!

in regards to lectures, i would recomomend finding out whether lecture notes are given to you or not :smile: all the unis i've applied to do lecture notes, so worth checking xxx
Original post by patheticboy
Tell teachers. If you've gotten to 20 without anyone really picking up on it then I assume its quite mild, I wouldnt use it as an opener, it might make people avoid you, or make them feel guilt-tripped into being nnice to you because they dont want to be seen as "the douchebag that stopped talking to the autistic kid because he found out he was autistic."


Well I'm female and I'm 'intelligent'. Autism is underdiagnosed in females, particularly those with average or above average IQs. It's kind of difficult for me to compare my severity to other people I've known with autism as there's so much diversity? And because I'm not sure how I'm perceived by others. I'm definitely seen as odd, but I think people accept it to a degree because they think I'm smart, so they think of the eccentric nerd stereotype rather than of someone with a neurodevelopmental disorder?
(edited 7 years ago)
So what is the big deal? You have lived 20 years of your life. All of a sudden you get told that you are "autistic". So what? Had you known earlier would you have done things differently?

Be who you are. Not what a psychological profile tells you you are.
Original post by brainhuman
So what is the big deal? You have lived 20 years of your life. All of a sudden you get told that you are "autistic". So what? Had you known earlier would you have done things differently?

Be who you are. Not what a psychological profile tells you you are.


Well yeah, probably. Maybe if people knew they'd have been more understanding about my school/college difficulties and I wouldn't be starting uni at 21.
Original post by disandsexstudy
One thing I've heard of people needing is written instructions. I know that would help me (accompanied by spoken instructions - but if I'm just told stuff I don't remember it).


.....well then I should probably get checked


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Original post by drandy76
.....well then I should probably get checked


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??
Original post by disandsexstudy
Well yeah, probably. Maybe if people knew they'd have been more understanding about my school/college difficulties and I wouldn't be starting uni at 21.


People are bastards. They would probably have bullied you for it.

You got to uni without any help even though you are "disabled". That is an achievement, be proud! Just ask what help you can get and go from there.

I am just trying to say, don't feel bad for this diagnosis!

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