Adult (self) diagnosis.

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I feel a little weird posting here, but this was the only bustling forum I could find, and I thought I'd check out the community. That, and a lot of other resources I've found on the Internet seem to be geared towards (and comprised of) parents of children on the spectrum.

Anyway, my story, Reader's Digest ran an article about a year ago called Normal or Nuts, where they chose a few letters sent in from readers and had experts give their opinions on a diagnosis. One person wrote, well, let me just paste it:

I don't need a seperate fork (I just lick it off good), and I normally don't need another plate unless I run out of clean space, but this hit a little too close to home for me, so I had to investigate (mostly Wikipedia for convenience, but for accuracy sake, I checked a few other sources as well). Both anorexia nervosa and OCD were way off, but ASD was eerily descriptive of me. I have most of the symptoms of Asperger's (even the really weird ones like walking on your tiptoes), and almost all of the symptoms of dyspraxia.

I'm not entirely sure if I have Asperger's or possibly something else on the spectrum, as some of the symptoms weren't very noticable until about middle school (like stacking/lining things up, preferring not to speak), but a lot of symptoms I've had since birth (rocking/stimming, shyness, clumsiness, sensory overload, etc.).

Speaking of sensory overload, having all of this thrown at me at once probably wasn't the best thing for me I was pretty overwhelmed for the first month or so. A bit afraid to know that I wasn't "normal, a bit relieved to know that I wasn't any of those things that mean kids called me in school...a lot of everything just swirling around...asking myself so many questions, a whole lot of self discovery...I found myself spending a lot of time going "Okay, so that's why I do that. But it's okay."

I'm 24 now, a lot less overwhelmed...it hasn't changed me too much, I'm a bit more self-concious about some things (I'll stop myself rocking in public if I catch myself doing it), a bit less reserved about other things (not as ashamed to refuse to "act my age"), and much more tolerant and forgiving towards people who just don't understand.

I hope we can see a lot more autism awareness, surely I'm not the only one who read Normal or Nuts thinking "This is me." Before that, my only knowledge of autism was from RainMan (which didn't seem like me at all). I even had a kid in highschool catch me rocking once, and ask me if I had autism...having no idea, I said "No."

Well, I intended to keep this short...I think I failed... Just wondering if anyone else had a late diagnosis, if there's any good Internet or book sources for my situation. I tried checking Barnes and Noble, but I didn't find anything particularly helpful.

To WrongPlanet!! !

Would you consider 58 late?

Welcome to WP.

It can be quite overwhelming, but it does lead to a great many "aha" moments.

I highly recommend the book:
The complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome by Tony Attwood. It is available at Barnes and Noble. It is a bit pricey for the hardcover (have not seen any paperback versions) but worth every penny/pence?.

You can get a bit of a preview of the book by doing a Google search. Enter the title:
The Complete Guide to Asperger's Syndrome and click on the first link. It will take you to a preview of the book. You will be able to read the preface, first chapter and table of contents.

Good luck to you on your journey of self-discovery.

Welcome to WP!

Penny

Thanks, I'll have to check it out next time I'm there. I saw a few books last time I was there (in or near the self help section), but most of them seemed more like biographies.

Hi;
New here myself. I too am perhaps a little odd with regard to eating behaviour. I have always tended to eat one item at a time, and this is one of many of those little spouse things that we accept but tease about. Household clutter would be another.

Regards,

Yep, I do that too. I've been looking around the board a bit, there's a lot of threads where someone will go "I have this weird habit.", everyone else goes "Me too!", and I'm thinking "Me three."...so at least I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place.

Welcome SabbraCadabra!:)

Nice to meet you, SabbraCadabra.

That would be great.

And welcome, SabbraCadabra.

Hi SabbraCadabra welcome to the "right" planet..

I was only diagnosed last year I am 49
At first I was in shock, then I grieved for the lost of the old me, then I read and read and with understanding came revelation, my life started to make sense and acceptance of the real me.

Hi there

Yes, it does seem that way.


Yes, in my forties.

Try this: http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=418 for books, great list, just choose the link for the kind you want.

Welcome

Kaleido

Welcome Sabbracadabra.
I self-diagnosed at 45 after initially stumbling upon the Wikipedia
article on AS via a link from 'Albert Einstein'. Previous to that I thought
I was just unusually shy and unlucky in life !
I'd recommend the book 'Asperger's Syndrome' by Tony Attwood

hello there i'm 28 and just got diagnosed 2 years ago with a bunch of other official diagnoses that pretty much adds up to aspergers. schizophrenia, ptsd, motor delay, anxiety, ocd, and much more. welcome to WrongPlanet.

Two votes for the Tony Attwood book, I'll definitely have to give it a look.

I never really felt that way...it's sort of like learning your heritage, you're still the same person, you're just more knowledgable about why you are that person.