First of all my name is Josh and I live in Oregon. My social anxiety tends to extend into the digital realm as well so forgive me if I don't read or reply for awhile. I was unofficially diagnosed around 2016 after a series of difficulties I was having socially and with work, I just got officially diagnosed a few weeks ago.
I imagine my experience growing up is similar in pattern(though obviously not content ) in that I always felt different and didn't know why. What made my experience all the more unique and confusing was growing up in a very strict religion. This meant a lot of the difference I felt from my peers as a kid was assumed by me and my folks to be a result the limited contact I was allowed with people not apart of this religion. I left this religion is 2007, for quite a few years after which I was dealing with a lot of trauma, coincidentally and unfortunately religious trauma tends to manifest with very similar symptoms as Autism. A lot of what I assumed to be religious trauma(social difficulties, anxiety, trouble with making friends, not understanding typical social customs) was actually me just being Autistic, which only occurred to me to look into after I had dealt with this trauma and yet most of the symptoms remained. Which brings us full circle.
I work at my church's food pantry and am a woodworker on the side. I'm really into Comics/Manga/Anime(with Batman and One Piece being special interests), love gaming, sketch occasionally, dabble in coding. I also have 4 goats and 20ish chickens(I lost count ).
Anyway, I've been meaning to hop on here forever and I just wanted to introduce myself.