22 years old recently diagnosed. Help!

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Hi guys,

Apologies if I post this in the wrong thread.

I'm from Australia, Sydney. I was diagnosed was mild autism/Asperger's in late 2014 by my psychiatrist. I was in disbelieve, in denial. I lost my spirit, like as if someone said that you have cancer.

It has taken me this long that to notice that I must do something about it. At least it helped me understand why I struggle to make friends and other life difficulties I have.

Do you guys know any good resources for young adult that's recently diagnosed? It is really hard looking for good resources, books, workshops, anything, as practically all of them are focused on children. I'm looking for help on social, being independent to say the least.

Thank you so much.

Hello and welcome to WP. I too have mild asperger's and I can relate to your situation. I was diagnosed when I was 41 and at first, It was a relief to finally get an answer to what was plaguing me all my life. At first, I felt relief. But when I asked "So how to I cure this?". The Doc then told me that there is no cure, and I felt like I was just handed a death sentence. It may me wonder whether or not I wanted the diagnosis in the first place.

There are some books by Temple Grandin that might help. but unfortunately, there really isn't much out there for adults with ASD's.

Welcome to WrongPlanet.net!

Temple Grandin is a good choice, but I would add Tony Attwood's books. He is an ASD specialist living in Brisbane. His books describe childhood diagnoses, but also include several discussions of adults with ASD, too. His DVDs include advice for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy including adults. For adult-ASD life advice, I would look for John Elder Robison's autobiographical books. They are funny, accurate and very helpful.

Embrace it! Start doing solitary activities. The fact itself that you finally got labeled helps a lot into destroying the remnants of social skills and emotions you have. Accept you will live an unsatisfactory life filled with things you don't want, because the alternative is to be alone and depressed. Just go with the flow, do walks, buy fast food alone, get a job that involves the minimal interaction possible with people. Give up on having cool friends, start being more sociable with the ones you think are weird too or might have some kind of mental disease, those are your league. If you are a woman you can still pass as normal tho, even if you will suffer a lot. You will get a boyfriend that you don't like but you will need because of feeling normal / fighting loneliness and you will have kids with him. Focus on your kids and live vicariously through them if they don't have autism too.

Welcome! As said, there is little targeted to adults. One pretty much has to glean what one can from what is available. Also, this forum can be quite helpful for things needing an adult perspective. Cheers!

Greetings - I find this booklet rather good, available online here:

http://www-users.cs.york.ac.uk/alistair/survival/

I have been looking for a booklet like this! It is perfect to give to family members and friends. It is even better for the advice among individuals with ASD.

There are printable formats for it on the first page (PDF etc) - don't know if it is available in hard copy, as that would be a good way to pass it round.

It's a valuable little book.

I read the PDF version. It would cost only a few dollars to get printed.

Hi, and welcome.
Diagnosis helps, only then is it possible to find coping strategies that work.

BTW I am going to Sydney in a few days Hope the weather gets better, heard that it was very cold in Australia this year.

I just read it, and there was very little I disagreed with, which is saying a lot. Mostly it's pretty sound advice IMHO. And being free, it's excellent value for money. He seems to strike the right balance between being aloof to the NT world and selling out to it. I particularly like the way he deals with the mating game. Shame the author died young, he'd probably have been able to share a lot of wisdom on dealing with long-term relationships if he'd lived a decade or two longer.

you might look at "the fine art of small talk" by debra fine, which i found helpful. or this book recommended by an autism expert: "how to start a conversation and make friends" by don gabor.

Tony Attwood last I heard is currently practicing in Sydney.

Clinic Details

http://www.tonyattwood.com.au/index.php ... pia-sydney

Boy, he moves around!