I'm officially undiagnosed but I was intimately involved in my son's diagnosis, which showed me that I too was without a doubt on the spectrum.
I've always been the black sheep of the family due to 'quirks' so no surprises there.
this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2025
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Autism
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If you’re content I don’t think anything really has to change. Keep enjoying life my friend.
Mhm I think the diagnosis is mainly for yourself to have closure. Now you can better understand why and maybe you'll learn some tricks from autism communities to make life better.
You don't need to tell anyone. You can, but if there's no good reason, you don't have to.
Sometimes it makes social life or work life easier because people start to understand you better, but this only applies if it's an issue.
You can be happy you figured yourself out a bit better and you got a new club of people you probably fit in with :)
Congrats on getting the diagnosis!
May the textures feel comfy, may your relationships with people be smoother, and may you have fulfilling special interests!
Here's your obligatory cozy cottage, and may the odds be ever in your favor :)
Picture from https://i.redd.it/3wnrwi2siz771.jpg
Gg! Or something, I dunno.
It is pretty normal to not feel a lot. I actually felt weighed down by the diagnosis. Different people have different experiences, your feeling is absolutely valid.
I personally choose to not disclose mg diagnosis unless it brings me benefits. Basically I disclose it e.g. when it comes to accommodations (e.g. apartment or in university), and I've told a few close friends, but generally I prefer keeping it private.
In the end I think it is important for you to figure out what your diagnosis means for you: is it a part of you, but other parts are independent from it, or does the diagnosis define you? It comes a bit down to the person vs identity first approach.
Also don't forget the diagnosis doesn't change you as a person. I'd heavily recommend continuing your life as before, without implementing ant large changes for now. Give it time to settle.
Research shows autistic people just aren't compatible socially with non-autistic people, but get along really well with other autistic people. Maybe look into autistic social groups, like this community, or something more intimate, like a chat group, or local meetup. Even if you don't think you need it, what's the harm? Our entire identity is informed by our life experiences, which statistically means most of the social situations you've ever been in were incompatible with you, and probably made you feel less than good. This leads to masking behaviors to avoid the bad feelings, and that's no way to exist. The stat is between 1/50 and 1/8 of people, largely shit stat because the establishment only diagnosed for disability until recently, but now the diagnostic criteria in a few countries includes people that can generally succeed at life, despite their neurodifferences.
It's interesting to me you had any expectations of a climax. It sounds like you've been purple your whole life, you and everyone that matters to you knew you were purple, and you just paid someone to officially measure your color as purple. People, regardless of neurotype, can be pretty chill, or totally shit. Your totally chill people are likely to accept you harder for who you are, your totally shit people are likely to dig in and throw more shit at you.
I'll try to DM you a link to a Matrix chat group for autistic folks. We'd (not me, the admin) rather there be a small barrier of entry than to just let people join. It's a nice group, not that I have a whole lot to compare it to.
congratulations (I think)
I will say that you should socialize a bit with other autistic people. Autistic people typically don't socialize a ton but it is good to stay in touch with a few people.