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Prozac Bear
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27 Mar 2023, 3:10 am

Hi

I'm a 47 year old woman living in the UK. Today I have a doctors appointment to get my referral for an assessment. As a child I was an outcast, I was dumped with the other 'slow' kids to be ignored and bullied. To my parents I was an embarrassment, and a mistake. As teenager I learned to mask. As an adult I moved away and got 4 science degrees and built a good life. Now it's been 3 years since I got covid, and I'm still too sick to work.

I'm here because I don't have the energy to mask anymore. If I'm going to get back on my feet one day I can only do it as me, and that me is clearly autistic. So I'm reaching out here to others who might understand. Even if it's just to discuss old sci-fi, or fossils.



Tim_Tex
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27 Mar 2023, 3:32 am

Welcome to WP!


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jimmy m
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27 Mar 2023, 8:46 am

Prozac Bear, welcome to Wrong Planet.

You got COVID three years ago and still haven't fully recovered. NOT GOOD.

Oh by the way I like old sci-fi, or fossil.

Rule number 1 on not masking. Do not be afraid. I have lived my entire life without masking and I have survived to the ripe old age of 74. Life is rather interesting. You will never make a friend if you do not mask. But who cares. It really is very, very important to JUST BE YOURSELF.

So let me fill you in on the FACTS OF LIFE. Humans are much more complex than anything that has ever existed anywhere in the known universe. We have multiple brains. One exist on the left side of our skull and the other on the right side. Normally the left side is the dominant side. It exist during the daytime. Our other brain which exist in REM and NREM sleep states is our other brain. It exist only during our deepest parts of our sleep. But sometimes when we are young WE DIE. In those cases, our brains undergo a brain flip. I died when I was around age 3 or 4 when a large bull attacked me and I died. A voice said "Live or Die, Your Choice". I could see my parents and my dead body. I saw the horror on their faces. And I said Live. It is what is described as a NEAR DEATH EXPERIENCE. I have lived my entire life as a Right Side Dominant Brain. My right side brain is very different than my left side. As a result, I never grew up. I am like Peter Pan.

So if you want to unmask, then understand that you are not alone in this world. There are millions of people. Some are masked and some never have been masked.


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Double Retired
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27 Mar 2023, 2:42 pm

Welcome to WP! I hope you like it here.

And enjoy the assessment. I enjoyed mine...it was kind of fun!

A caution, however, the best diagnosis is a correct diagnosis. They might decide you are on the Autism spectrum or that you are almost on the Autism spectrum or that you have something else which shares some traits associated with Autism. And, based upon what some others here have said about getting an assessment in the UK it seems possible there could be a wait for getting the assessment at all.

But assessments and diagnoses are not prerequisites for being here, just a general interest in neurodiversity.

You will find quite a few science fiction fans here...including me.

And you will find quite a few fossils here, too...again, including me.


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RandoNLD
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27 Mar 2023, 3:26 pm

Welcome. I'm new myself, but so far I think I've found the right planet :D. The sciences are much discussed here.



autisticelders
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27 Mar 2023, 3:49 pm

Welcome, diagnosed at age 68 and the world has never been better. Diagnosis can be life changing. Glad you are with us!


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alex
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27 Mar 2023, 4:06 pm

Welcome


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klanka
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27 Mar 2023, 4:46 pm

Hi I reached a burnout stage as well.
Which old SciFi do you like?



Prozac Bear
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27 Mar 2023, 5:14 pm

Thank you all so much for a warm welcome. I was expecting to have to fight my doctor to get a referral. But instead he just looked at me and said "yep ok, let's do the paperwork".

I've been doing a lot of trauma therapy over the last few years. To my surprise as my c-ptsd symptoms became more controlled, other things like stimming, and sensory sensitivity, actually increased. Then a few weeks ago I realised that these things are the real me. I'd thought they were trauma responses, but they were me all along.

So now I need to work out how to be a happy autistic. How to listen to my body. I wonder how much of the constant anxiety I feel is actually my suppressed autistic traits desperate to get out.

I've never been able to follow fictional books. I can't make the pictures in my head, and just get confused. So as a child I became obsessed with reading the old Doctor Who novelisations. I knew what everything looked like, so I could follow them. That was as good as it got in pre VCR days :D . So mostly I'm a classic doctor who nerd, but I also enjoy star trek (especially next gen and DS9), Star Wars (until George Lucas started messing them up), Sapphire and Steele (not strictly sci-fi), Lord of the Rings (definitely not sci-fi), Harry Potter (although I was an adult when they came out), Blakes 7, old Sci-fi B movies. I loved Stranger Things and Wednesday (from the more up to date stuff). I'm really enjoying the latest Picard season.

Anyway, thanks again for everyone's messages. They gave a little warm glow.



Double Retired
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27 Mar 2023, 9:46 pm

Typically folk have a special fondness for their first Doctor. Mine was Tom Baker; which was yours?

However, I hold all of the classic Doctor's in high esteem.


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Prozac Bear
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28 Mar 2023, 2:19 am

Double Retired wrote:
Typically folk have a special fondness for their first Doctor. Mine was Tom Baker; which was yours?

However, I hold all of the classic Doctor's in high esteem.


The main doctor for me as a child growing up was Peter Davison. I still watch his episodes just because I find them comforting. But objectively I know that 80's doctor who had terrible production values. I think the best actor was Patrick Troughton. But in terms of overall quality the first 3 years of Tom Baker was a thing of beauty.



autisticelders
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28 Mar 2023, 5:48 am

one of the best things about getting diagnosed is that realization that we are not the "only one" and that there are others who understand us!


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Double Retired
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28 Mar 2023, 10:24 am

Prozac Bear wrote:
The main doctor for me as a child growing up was Peter Davison.
I was impressed by the Peter Davison years. They struck me as the best Science Fiction in the classic era.

And Troughton was FUN!


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klanka
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28 Mar 2023, 12:19 pm

I like star trek and star wars but not doctor who.
I never got to see the Tom Baker episodes , so that might be why



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28 Mar 2023, 10:21 pm

You'd probably find Doctor Who to be less serious than Star Trek or even Star Wars. Doctor Who was less serious, from a Science Fiction standpoint...but classic Doctor Who was entertaining...in its way.


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Prozac Bear
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29 Mar 2023, 6:31 am

It's very difficult to categorise doctor who because there is such varieties in tone and quality over its almost 60 year history. Compared to Star Wars and Star Trek, it's much more of an anthology show, which dips into various sci-fi, fantasy and horror tropes.

I would argue that Star Wars is the least sci-fi of the three. It's mostly taking fantasy archetypes and adding space ships. It's wise old men, wizards, naive farm boys, great warriors, and a princess captured by an evil sorcerer. Really more science-fantasy. It's the only one of the three to contain actual magical powers.

I would say that Star Trek is the most consistently sci-fi.

Personally I love them all.