I lost the most important years of my life.

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Can I just add one more thing?

I'm genuinely and sympathetically curious; Why is it you feel that all treatments were ineffective?
I remember feeling extremely jealous of Liane Holliday Willey's daughter who was diagnosed young, grew up in a loving family and had all sorts of wonderful privileges and support and was able to develop all her strengths.

The author wrote that there was now really very little difference between her AS daughter and her two other neurotypical daughters, and it made me think that if the right help was given, there really could be a normal, happy life for a sufferer of AS.

Do you know what went wrong for you? If it's too personal to get into then don't worry.

I sometimes feel this way as well... My diagnosis was confirmed around the time when I turned 23, even though it could have been easily done when I was a child. Then again, even if the knowledge and understanding I should have had about my condition could have offered a great deal of help to me at several times, I sort of do take pride in having proven to myself that I can survive and compete in the NT world and achieve all the same things that a "normal" person can. I feel stronger in the knowledge that I have grown as the person I am today despite all the difficulties and being "disabled".

Current AS treatment is really depressing. They make AS sound like a terminal disease. I can remember my first session, where my psychologist said "we'll try our best to help you, but you'll probably never be completely normal." The rest of my experience was deeply personal, something I'm not even comfortable admitting to myself yet. What I will say is that you shouldn't ever let yourself believe that so-called expert knows more about what you're dealing with than you do.

I feel like I have made an amazing amount of progress, but it has all been thanks to myself and a select group of friends. Although I believe I'll live a successful life, I don't think psychology has really made enough progress to treat ASDs effectively.