After decades of struggling to “be normal,” I’ve recently been diagnosed as being a high-functioning masking autistic. I was tentatively diagnosed in grade 2, but the diagnosis was overruled because the head psychologist believed autism affected only males. Instead, they decided I was gifted and bored, and they advanced me a grade, which just did wonders for my social life (not). Later in college, I raised the question of females with autism in my developmental psych class and added that I’d been tentatively diagnosed as such in childhood. The instructor repeated the claim that girls don’t develop autism, and then added her own assessment: “You’re just weird.” I dropped the class.
Anyway, getting confirmation has caused a fairly major shift in the way I think about myself, others, and the world. I’ve lurked in a few support groups but — no surprise — I haven’t chimed in because, well, those people are unfamiliar! ๐ย So I thought I’d ask here, in case anyone would be willing to share some experiences.
Thanks for reading. ๐
"The United States is also a one-party state but, with typical American extravagance, they have two of them." -Julius Nyerere, First President of Tanzania