How old were you when you were diagnosed?

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Diagnosed AS in January, at 45. I guess that "strong autistic characteristics" in all three branches of the Triad is better than "Weird, Not Otherwise Specified - With Multiple Sensory Issues."

That's surprising. I thought most aspies were diagnosed during their childhood!! !

12. Before that it was ADD/ADHD. I think I have ADHD and AS. I was a study type due to what I had. It was an interesting childhood.

That is becoming the case today. However, when I was growing up in the '70s, little was known about these matters and people thought much differently about conformity and diversity in general. The debut of the term "Asperger's Syndrome" was still 20 years away, and while most people by then had at least a passing exposure to autism (or its stereotypes), even the expression "high-functioning autism" had an oxymoronic character in those days.

More significantly, conformity was much more strictly enforced in these days, and mental health assessments were reserved pretty much exclusively for the most extreme cases where people could not be beaten back in line. That one had genuine difficulties - no matter how serious - was not considered in these times, except for a fortunate few. As children, you were thrown into the fray, and expected to sink or swim. If you behaved out of line, nobody asked why - you were simply punished, often corporally, until you complied. Diversity was not a celebrated thing then.

Only those who were obviously unable to comply were considered for exemption status, which itself was a literal or virtual institutionalisation. Although some got various labels and became "special ed" outcasts, in general you were considered ret*d, branded and cast off to never disturb the decent folks again. My school wanted to do this to me - when I was 4. History has proven their expert assessment of my cognitive abilities to be just a tad off.

Today we are making progress recognising that people are different, and that these differences are not inherently bad. We still have a very long way to go, however.

Thaks for your clarification.

When I was growing up in nineteen-fifties england, my folks were just glad I could read. And that I hadn't died...

I left home at sixteen, having finished school, suffered a totally misfit year of university and dropped out.

I was fifty-two when I was diagnosed. By then I'd been married, raised children, and failed fairly completely at everything I'd tried - except cutting code for computers. I was good at that.