Mistle, yup, I'm trying to pretend that mumsnet looks the same. If I scroll far enough down, it almost does, so I'm coping (just). For me, it's a bit bit like if you're blind and you walk into your living room and some s*d had moved all the furniture to a new position without telling you. I'll get used to it...
I never, ever mind what people ask about ASDs as I'm sure others can just look at the other messages and ignore it if it's not interesting.
It's a very good question. As there was no such thing as a diagnosis for this for women until fairly recently, (they truly thought it was just some badly behaved boys who had it), most women have had to grow up and cope somehow. I went from "why is this world so strange, why do people behave in these really odd ways?!" to "ooo, this sounds like me!" to "Oh heck, so it is!" over a period of about 2 years leading up to the diagnosis. For me, it was a HUGE relief, because I'd had to assume that I was just stupidly incompetent and just wasn't trying hard enough/must be so awful that I deserved being bullied or treated appallingly by people. Now I know how to try to balance my life, and it's made such a difference to me, and to understanding my dh, who likewise we discovered is ASD.
I'm very fortunate to have very lovely friends in my life who have been there for me and really supported me, as has dh. Well, we support each other. It's such hard work for me to get friendships right when I have a brain that doesn't store info on people in any sensible place, but it's worth it.
Ever seen the Spoons Theory thing? It's not really for ASDs but it's so good, and explains so much about how those with any disability can get so very tired just navigating everyday things.
butyoudontlooksick.com/navigation/BYDLS-TheSpoonTheory.pdf
It's helped me to be kinder to myself. That sort of insight can help in very many ways.