Part of my ongoing series on being diagnosed as an adult…
What previous confusing experiences made sense once you learned you were autistic?
The relief/realization that my wife and I weren’t gaslighting each other and that we each had truly valid, very different experiences from the same inputs.
I’m still on the fence, but one of my current friends is convinced about me.
My parents have always told me that even as a baby, I was always more independent/quiet than a lot of other children. I was always just ok playing on my own and that kind of thing. I liked playing with others too of course, but being alone never bothered me either. That’s always stuck with me and I’d say is still true to this day. I’m much more aware of it now of course, but it still affects me in a lot of ways.
You could take some of the online assessments in the helpful resources post linked in the side bar. However, for me, nothing was as convincing as a thorough assessment by a psychologist that specializes in autism. Even after I got the results, I still doubted them somewhat for a while.
(Disclaimer: no official diagnosis yet, so I guess this could still have different reasons)
Severe hot flashes and naesea eventually followed by bursts of adrenaline in supermarkets or crowded places (on almost a daily basis).
The fact that I haven’t left the house in years without both earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones at hand.
The biggest one for me was difficulty getting jobs. I’ve lost count how many times my parents had to deal with me venting frustrations at falling short in the interview phase.
I can’t “read between the lines.” Like at all. If it’s not spelled-out to me in nearly granular detail, it gets lost in translation. This has definitely contributed to my romantic difficulties.
The only other thing that comes to mind is random social interactions that just turned really awkward because I don’t really have that much of a “socially appropriate” compass. lol That happened more often when I was younger.
I don’t really have that much of a “socially appropriate” compass
Ugh! The worst for me is when I have imitated someone else I thought was funny in a separate circle, then later found out that that guy would not have fit in with the circle I did my imitation in. I come off looking way out of touch, or my favorite word to hear as measured by frequency, “inappropriate.”