New to the forum and the reality of ASD

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I'm a middle aged Caucasian male, according to self testing I'm at least moderately autistic and probably pretty empathic. I took the AQ, EQ, RAADS-R and CAT-q and they point to some notable signs of strong to very strong Autism, or support my hypothesis of the presence of ASD. All that I have read and watched leave me certain of this. Knowing the limited value of self-Dx I am slated to get a medical assessment and medical Dx next.

A couple times in recent years I wondered if this could be cause for my bouquet of social and career-limiting quirks (this word does some heavy lifting here). Quirks that are not well explained by Fibromyalgia or my childhood Dx of ODD. We did not understand ASD back then, we didn't screen as we do now. I have to wonder how things would be different had this been detected in early childhood. I sort of always just thought I was a bad or defective person,

I'm not surprised, or even disturbed by this realization. If anything it is a relief to understand why I've been in a social fish bowl for more than half a century. It has gotten worse as polyarticular arthritis ups the pain ante pretty spectacularly on some days. Going to town is something I deeply dread with the passion of a thousand suns, so regular therapy is likely out of the question. Not sure if I have questions or just a general desire to learn more from others so effected.

Absolutely open to critique or input.

Thank You

GJ.

Welcome to Wrong Planet.

We are not given a paper that describes who we are or what we need to participate in life. By nature many times we are loners. But we also are explorers. We go where no man has gone before.

Understand that many humans have pluses and minuses. They have +s and -s. But we are a little different. Some of us have ++s and --s. And some of us are off the charts with +++++s and -----s. The secret in life for us is to learn what these +s and -s are and use your +s to overcome your -s.

If you did not realize you have +s, then look deeper inside you and try and figure out what they are. What are your unique +s.

Welcome,

If you are middle aged ASD may not have been commonly diagnosed where you live.

Knowing you have ASD may allow you to more clearly identify stressful situations and find better ways of dealing with them.

Instead of shopping when it is busy on the weekends, I often wait until Monday or Tuesday.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome aboard GJ,
With middle age self discovery, it's mostly about explaining your past to yourself and coming to terms with the fact you are way quirkier than you suspected. Having survived this far undiagnosed you are obviously functional enough and a diagnosis may not be that helpful.
I had a psychiatrist offer to confirm my self diagnosis (which I chose to interpret as "pay me and I'll put that in writing for you"), but I am perfectly happy with my self-dx explaining...well...my whole life.
My commiserations on the arthritis. My connective tissue disorder results in accelerated joint wear and all my party tricks have come back to sink their teeth in.
Wouldnt it be nice if "Ubique" worked. (A fellow SF nut might get that, but everyone else might have to dig a little)
I hope this site is useful to you.