this post was submitted on 10 Sep 2024
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Ask Autistic People
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A community for anyone to ask autistic people questions: non-autistic people to learn about the autistic experience and autistic people to get information or validation from their peers.
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I had a similar experience. Always new I was weird, but figured that was because I didn't get the proper how-to-be-a-human training from my family. My diagnosis journey began when I told a therapist that I was sick of all these relationship problems I was having, and literally asked her, "What's wrong with me?" She said nothing was wrong with me, but that I seem like a person that was highly sensitive to sensory and emotional stimuli, then explained how it was useful to have people like that in tribes back in the hunter-gatherer days. Cue special interest in highly sensitive people. Like 1.5 months later, an ex-friend that was trying to insult me called me autistic at a social gathering. To get him back, I took online autism assessments the next day thinking that the results would prove that I wasn't autistic and could send him the results. However, I kept popping as high likelihood for autism. I was almost convinced, but felt like I was maybe I was trying to find an excuse. I got an official ADOS2 assessment about 1.5 months after that that confirmed it. It then took another 6 months for me to be certain I was autistic. It's been a wild ride of self-discovery and WTFs, but I'm happy I found out. I've made lots of adjustments that have been helpful. The latest one was going to an amusement park with ear plugs in. WHAT.A.DIFFERENCE! Despite the changes, I still have lots to go. In summary, I pursued a diagnosis because I was so sick of all these issues and was running out of options. This meme has been happening since:
Also, your name and post reminded me of this song: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zaaIZ2cp-FU&si=aa4c1U3FDP1LWFbb
Ear plugs are a remarkable tool. Since I did the first one, they have helped me so much. Nowadays, I take them with me any time I leave the house, and they help so much.
Hope those relationship issues are also getting better, along with the improvement in other areas you already mentioned.