Neurodiversity support thread: Women with suspected/self-diagnosed/diagnosed ASC & ADHD

[EauRouge]

No sign of our own forum yet, so for now here's a new support thread for women on the autistic spectrum and/or with ADHD. Newbies more than welcome!

The old thread is here.

Here are some helpful links for newbies:

List of female AS traits by Tania Marshall.

List of female traits by Everyday Aspergers

Musings of an Aspie- Cynthia Kim's blog (one of the few sources I have found about being a parent with Aspergers)

Autistic Women's Collective

Recognising ADHD in women from ADDitude Magazine

Resources for women with ADHD from ADDitude Magazine

Adult ADHD support (coming soon by the looks of things)

Books

Aspergirls by Rudy Simone

You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?!: The Classic Self-help Book for Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder by Kate Kelly (I haven't read this one but I have heard it recommended many times- apologies if it's no good!)

I took off Tony Attwood because it was about people with autism rather than for people with autism. Anyone else got any book recommendations?

Online tests

(Online tests are not 100% certain but can give you a very good idea and a starting point for talking to your GP if you're seeking diagnosis)

RDOS Aspergers quiz (the best one IMO)

AQ test

ADHD test

ADHD questionnaire for women

If any of those don't work, it's because I'm cooking the DDs' dinner and I'm shit at multitasking. What's that burning smell?

Quick random post: I've just been looking at the woo thread in chat, and realised that when I was younger and have seen deceased pets, it's probably a very vivid imagination thing rather than actually seeing their ghosts.
I don't have a good imagination for stories and games, but I can picture things (people, animals, objects) so vividly I can almost believe I have seen them.

Sorry, as you were.
Thank you for the WH link, will listen to it if I can escape the children!

Listened to it, it was very interesting.
I'm going to ask dh to listen, I don't think he understands why it feels so important to have a diagnosis. I don't know why it feels so important, but the lady was so right with what she said about wanting answers, I can't stand suspecting something and not knowing for sure.

I liked the point she made about wanting to know for sure/categorise being an aspie thing

Yes, that really struck me.
Instant internet and Wikipedia have helped me feel so much less frustrated because I can google anything and find the right answer straight away.

I liked the point about knowing who you are, your identity. Of being able to assure your children with the same condition that everything can work out and be okay, because you are living proof of that. I also hate wondering but not knowing for sure, too. I hope it doesn't take as many years for me as it did for Olley to get a diagnosis. However I am diagnosed, I hope it brings with it a sense of who I am, with answers as to why I have struggled with life of why I feel different and struggle with more than I let on to people.

So thanks for sharing and welcome quadquetra :)

LeChien what is the woo thread?! Also, I love the pensive in Harry Potter!! :D

PolterGoose What an interesting subject to study for your MSc! I have just finished reading 'Do No Harm' all about brain surgery and now I am quite obsessed and have starting watching 'House' from the beginning! :') I'm currently working through an Arts Award and have decided to incorporate these themes and thoughts I had whilst reading into some form of artwork! lol

Thread full of woo

Oh! Haha I do love a good woo story!

PolterGoose is this the Attwood book you were referring to upthread?

www.amazon.co.uk/Aspergers-Girls-Tony-Attwood/dp/193256540X

Afternoon

Poltergoose told me to join in, so here I am :)

I'll have a look through the thread too, to see who's here.

I've got a Short Report from my ISA that they're oblliged to send me 2ce a year.
I don't understand what they are, but every 6 months, i get one and i file it away.
I know i don't actually have to keep it, because it's not specific to my isa, but i never throw it away.

I'm enjoying reading everyone's experiences.

It's making me cry a little bit too - reading what you're all saying and it puts absolutely everything i've ever done into this neat little box, and makes it all so bleeding obvious, but where was that when I was melting down and losing control with life?

Reading stories -

I love reading, it's one of my obsessions. (the only thing I'll ever say I'm actually good at)
I can't read out loud - I've always stumbled on it, especially in front of people.
I struggled reading stories to children - there's one thing I had to do in my job as children's bookseller
I got used to it - i just used to read the story as it was written, and found it difficult when there weren't very many words telling the story. I had to learn how to read stories to children. They taught me
One group of children sat and pointed stuff out in the pictures (it was the first time I'd read to older children - they were 6-8yo), as younger kids didn't seem to do it. And it suddenly dawned on me that the story was being told in the pictures! I'd never noticed it before - to me, pictures were just an illustration to go alongside the words, but in children's books, they told the story.

But that didn't mean I could use the pictures to tell the story, because I still can't get how they fit and how they work, so I just pause at the end of the words and let the children get what they need from the pictures, thne carry on. Sometimes I see something explanatory in the picture and I'll point it out, but it's not usual for me to see it

I'm a mess today, having some school mums over for a drink and i'm not coping with the idea at all. I WANT to do it, to have friends, but its just so hard. And now two have had to cancel and, well, aaaarrrrrggghhhhh!!!!

This is why i dont bother with people :(

And, god sorry, now i'm just writing a monologue and ignoring other posts

Hi nickel :) i'm sure you were here before? Or i could just be having a dopey blonde moment!

Hello Nickel :)

Good luck Beyond, I can understand how difficult you're finding it! You're doing well to have got this far.

I've just done hair and make up (which i wasnt going to) and i feel a little bit more comfortable now. In my disguise...

Or that could be the gin

Welcome nickelbabe:) PolterGoose pointed me in the direction of this thread, too! :)

BeyondTheWall I hope you feel better afterwards for having done it! :) I met up with a friend today. We both don't drive and live about an hours' drive from eachother. We are both so socially awkward but once we're actually in each other's company, it's okay and we have a lovely time and I feel so happy afterwards! It's the build up to it. I panic and try and figure out a way of getting out of it even though she's my friend! lol

I was never particularly interested in the pictures either nickel. I don't really visualise in my head when I read but the pictures still managed to seem wrong and jarring at worst, or irrelevant at best.

Hope it's going well, Beyond.

"Do you dislike it when people stamp their foot in the floor? "

in the floor?!
like rumpelstiltskin?

i do that too, Beyond

no, i wasn't here before, maybe you just thought i should have been

this week, i didn't brush my hair for 2 days because i didn't need to go out.

"Do you have an urge to jump over things? "

Well yes! of course! Surely that's normal !
Who wouldn't ?!