Was it better to be unaware of your own autism?

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I do get jealous of women that didn't know they had autism until later on in life. I understand older women not getting a diagnosis because autism wasn't as known as much when they were growing up, but women who grew up in the 1990s and 2000s undiagnosed I can never understand how they went all through school slipping through the net (unless they were homeschooled and had parents that brushed any peculiar behaviour under the carpet). Otherwise, how can you or your child go all through childhood post 1994 without being recognised?

It seems that autism and ADHD are the two most undiagnosed neurological disorders in the world.

They went unrecognized because they internalized their symptoms.

no because im not into stereotypes and im sick of people thinking of autism as a defect.

i was developmentally backwards and forwards at the same time but i am not intellectually stupid.

The thing about humans is, every single one of us is completely different to the others and we can't be easily classified. This is both an advantage and disadvantage for humanity.

I've been diagnosed with loads of things before adhd and aspergers. I mean I was in like a youth detention centre type place when I was diagnosed with conduct disorder and borderline pd. It turns out years later that I have adhd and could have been treated for that back then. I just don't think it was really a thing back then though. I wish I had have been medicated for adhd when I was a kid because it probably would have saved me from going through drug and alcohol addiction and racking up quite an impressive criminal record but you can't go back and who's to know that I would have turned out differently anyway.

And there are still things that have gone unnoticed as well but there's no benefit in dredging it all up now. I'm far too long in the tooth for all of that.

I think that if my autism had have been noticed when I was younger then the social services might have gone a bit easier on me rather than just writing me off for my behaviour and locking me up. I'm thinking they might have treated me with a bit more consideration. Idk.

Many don`t get that luxury of course, but for me it was a bit of a double edged sword, felt depressed & worthless after but explained alot too.

Nowdays i don`t really see it as a proper diagnosis in that i`ve come to realise my autism is just an old 1940`s umbrella name for an unexplained neurological condition, so logically i have an unexplained brain condition caused by ?

Hopefully before i die i will be properly diagnosed, ill be told my condition is caused by fault with gene ___ or some other thing.

Then ill know & be happier for it

No, I'd have gone crazy (ier?)

I'm really glad I wasn't diagnosed before age 10, because my first school was terrible in a way that meant they'd have absolutely loved ABA. Also, the way they talked about the possibility of me having ADHD made me extremely resistant to the concept of ADHD as a valid and meaningful diagnostic category for a long time, and I'm glad they didn't make me feel that way about something that actually describes me.

But if I could've been diagnosed shortly after I left that school... I don't know. It really depends on what kind of treatments I would've gotten, and how quickly my parents would be able to figure out that most autism treatments are full of s**t. If they'd figured it out quickly, and my diagnosis led to only minor accommodations and greater self-understanding, I'd be way ahead.

If I could be diagnosed early with adult!me in my life as a mentor, that would've been awesome.

Four letters: N-O-P-E.

I was turned into a sociopath and my life was nearly completely ruined before I was diagnosed with Asperger's. I can't be the only person who thought it was a good thing.

The psychiatrist that finally diagnosed me, however, didn't think I should know I was aspie. Which just goes to show that psychiatry in general is about as full of pseudoscience as voodooism and conversion therapy.

I used to think that all people on the spectrum were little devils at home. I know I was, even though I was brought up in a loving, secure home with decent parents. Could it be because I had ADHD as well?

I was a very quiet and calm child. I kept to myself a lot. I think you are right about the ADHD. I don't have that so I am much calmer.

Most likely. That's not to say autism can't also cause issues but they're probably more predictable vs. those of us with ADHD where a lot of problems come from impulse control and sensory seeking behaviours.

I'm equally a little devil at school and home. Also equally calm and quiet at school and home. Depends which came first.

I don't have ADHD.
It is debatable if my house at youth was as loving as it became right after diagnosis. Likely not -- both my parents, before dad went abroad and my mom no longer ignorant of autiam are angry people.



To extend my previous post...
It's better off my parents knew sooner than I do.
They should know at earliest time possible. Hopefully in terms that it doesn't make them into a helicopter parent or one of those fools whose focus is the stigma or one of those with stupid attitudes with NDs.

That, they'd know better than treat me like some unreasonable NT during my formative years.

But otherwise let me become more independent.
Than, say, something stupid like bash at me at the fact that I don't reflexively bless my elders -- no one was damn explaining this cultural thing to me and all they do is get mad if I don't comply.
I don't comply -- I hit back.

While I don't have to know until teenage years, with a possibly narrow window of ages 13-16, when I could've handled the news best.

Last edited by Edna3362 on 18 Jul 2022, 6:05 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Maybe, that's a really good question.

I think it would have been much better if I had been diagnosed earlier as unfortunately my self esteem was damaged beyond repair by the time I was diagnosed.

That's what most of my problems were caused by. At school I had social anxiety and didn't like being told off by teachers so I kept a low profile (in another words, appeared shy and well-behaved) but as soon as I got home from school I would be literally bouncing off the walls happily. I wasn't socially exhausted though, as in the summer days I would go back outside after school and play with the other children in the neighbourhood. I was just exhausted from being good and quiet all day when inside I was hyper.

According to SPARK:

As I understand that, there are more than 200 different genetic changes that have been associate with Autism. That is, more than 200 different genetic changes that might, by them self, cause Autism. So, "Autism" might be more than 200 different "disorders".

It makes sense to me that Autistics are different because they might have different underlying genetic changes.

"Autism" is just an umbrella term for a bunch of different "disorders" whose symptoms sometimes resemble each other.

The one I got is mild. That doesn't mean every other Autistic got a mild change.