If you are autistic and was diagnosed as an adult, what were your main signs that made you sought a diagnosis?

[noeyehu]

Lately I have been considering whether I am autistic. I know it can present differently in women and have been reading up on symptoms, but I just wondered if you are autistic and was diagnosed as an adult what were your main signs?

I have a lot of social difficulties but would have previously just said I was shy/socially anxious. I also relate to the concept of masking and find socialising draining because of that, but again I thought that was more anxiety. I don’t have any sensory issues

There is but I did it ages ago and now I can’t find it, I’ll try and do some digging once I’ve been on the cross trainer.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding can you explain the light out of corner of eye please?

That’s very kind. No pressure

@AmericasfavoritefightingFrenchman sorry I can’t find it ☹️.

@Makesense12 it’s where you look out of the corner of your eyes at a light source such as the light coming through the window, a candle or lamp etc. I don’t know why it’s a thing but it’s very common amongst autistic people, children usually do it while spinning.

@Idratherbepaddleboarding would you do it for a TV

It was when my second autistic child was going through the assessment process. DS had been diagnosed a few years prior but it wasn't until DD was going though it I started to read more about autism and girls. Every piece of evidence I was gathering for her I recognised in me.

It was another 4 years of 'am I, am I not?' before I finally went for assessment and was diagnosed.

I have since also been diagnosed with ADHD - something I didn't see until about a year ago

I was actually trying to Google adult diagnosis yesterday because of my son so I'm pleased to see this thread.

He is actually still 17 but I was wondering if a diagnosis is helpful or not.

My DS still toe walks , had obsessions as a child, has built up an encyclopaedic knowledge of cars and will talk endlessly about them if given a chance. Teachers and close friends have asked if he could possibly be autistic and I've considered this myself but because he got on well at school , got great GCSE results ,and is also now quite sociable ( after years of social awkwardness as a teen) I've dismisses it.

But his half sibling was diagnosed with adhd and autism in his early teens and DS himself decided to do an on line test which told him he was highly likely to be autistic. Not sure how reliable these things are but it made us think.

The reason I've been thinking about it again is that he has just had to resign from his weekend job after 6 months because he just couldn't get on with his manager. DS can be so black and white about stuff, hates injustice and questions procedures he thinks don't make sense. He's clearly annoyed his boss who has started making life at work extremely unpleasant so we've told him to resign to fully concentrate on his a levels instead.

I just don't know if a diagnosis would be a good thing or not.

I just don't know if a diagnosis would be a good thing or not.

Ask yourself what would be negative about being diagnosed with a condition you have.

Then ask yourself what could be negative about being undiagnosed. If you do a bit of reading you will see many many stories of late diagnosed adults who have suffered because they were misdiagnosed, wrongly medicated, went through trauma.

Don't underestimate the power of knowing who you are. It was life changing for me.

@teacakie thanks that's really interesting about knowing who you are as DS is adopted and that's a big thing.

I will follow along as this is so interesting to me. I've long had my deep suspicion that my Mum could be autistic but as she's over eighty there doesn't seem point in her getting an official diagnosis now. But she's always done a lot of the behaviours mentioned on here. She stims by obsessivle y twirling her hair. She also always sits with her feet tucked under her bottom. Her voice is always flat and a monotone, I don't think I have ever heard her raise her voice actually. She really dislikes watching any fantasy type films and never reads anything fictional, all she says is that "it bothers her too much". She would cook the same food on the same day every week for years & years, her shopping list just never changed. She struggled at school and was put in the remedial class as it was called back then, but she was very good at maths. She just cannot cope with new situations and goes into panic mode if put on the spot or asked to make decisions, she hates it. She cannot cope with other people's emotions and just seems to shut down and will even just leave the room rather than deal with them. An autistic diagnosis would explain so so much about her and about my childhood.

@Scautish haha I meant 27k words / 110 pages and I accidentally mashed them together