Autistics die a lot younger then the general population

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<--- Doesn't do cocaine or drink alcohol anymore. Just saying that he drank for 35 years and drugged for 22 years. Sobriety date: July 26, 2014.

robin - should have died before i was born -

Speaking for myself, after iwas born 6 weeks early i was given less than 24 hours...22 years later i'm still here. Even a month or so in the hospital at 5 years old from food poisoning didn't stop me, so I think I have a pretty good track record of defying odds and expectations. Especially because my entire school career only missed 4 days total from being sick, worse injury i've ever had was a hyper-extended knee when i was 7. Though that's not including my various (mountain) bike crashes (always look like i got into a fight with another person afterwards) but even then it was just scrapes and cuts. I also noticed I have a really high physical pain tolerance, after my last wipeout in a parking lot I rode my bike a mile home to take care of the wounds with no noticeable pain during the ride.

I saw this thread a while ago and I didn't pay attention to it. But then I read a newspaper article about a study that concluded that those with autism die younger. And according to the article, one of the main causes for autistics dying was suicide.

I remember when I was in middle school, I was bullied constantly. Teachers and parents told me that "sticks and stones break your bones but names will never hurt you." Which is nonsense because names can hurt people. Nowadays, there are campaigns against bullying, but not when I was in school. I was bullied because of my strangeness, my difference. Also because I was easily driven to anger and tears. Which just goaded the bullies on. No one lifted a finger to stop the bullying. A boy kicked me in the shin, leaving a mark, and nothing was done to punish him. So I felt that I was less than others. I was sent to see a psychiatrist to deal with my "emotional problems." Now I know that my problems weren't primarily emotional, they were a result of a neurological issue, autism spectrum disorder. I am hypersensitive to noise and light and there is some sort of disorder and disorganization of data coming into my brain. Which is what originally cause my symptoms of not talking and retreating in order to get away from the confusion in my brain. They simply didn't know at the time what they now know about autism. Being bullied makes a person feel as if they are less than others.

After graduating from high school, I dealt with this by become active in political causes. Then I got involved in booze and drugs, which gave me the illusion of calming my anxiety. Eventually, I got into recovery and my clean/sober date is 3/11/82. I just celebrated 34 years of clean/sober time. It was AA and NA which helped to save my life from suicidal thoughts. And finally getting information and a diagnosis (plus some therapy) from a knowledgeable psychiatrist which is helping me even more.

But I can see someone stuck in an institution wanting to kill him/herself. My mother was once told that I should be institutionalized, but she ignored this advice. But how many are locked away in back rooms of institutions? How many are not getting the diagnoses and treatments that they deserve? So this is a crucial question for those of us on the spectrum.

Congratulations on your almost 35-years of sobriety!

It was thought that I should be institutionalized as well, but my mother saw something in my eyes, so she started with the cue cards and stuff (obviously, nothing computer-related had been created, since this was the 1960s). I had no speech until age 5 1/2. I have to give credit to the assiduous work of my mother (even though we sometimes don't get along).

I was bullied, teased, hassled, etc. all through school, except for a brief period at the end of 8th grade, and a lessening of the intensity during my senior year of high school. When I turned 18, I vowed that I would not be bullied again in my adulthood. I took certain behavioral-type steps. I also started to try to engage more with people. Words do hurt, of course, but I decided that the insults emanate from people who have their own problems, and had nothing to do with me as a person.

I was bullied a little on one of my jobs at age 18. But no bullying since, except maybe some attempts at emotional bullying by my bosses, which was met with evidence and logic. The bosses over my immediate boss were usually more impartial, and objectively sifted through the evidence, and decided to take my side on various matters.

35 years of sobriety is amazing. You can serve as a great example for those who are struggling with sobriety at this time.

I suspect I was both stunted early in life as well as saddled with life-span-reducing chronic stress for most of my life. I am physiologically older than somebody of my age is supposed to be. on top of that, for decades I ate a beastly diet and slept [when I could] 12+ hours per day. plus I was "accident-prone" [passively suicidal] for decades. it all came to a head with my 2012 bike accident that left me busted up in a hospital. now i'm held together with pins and plates and scar tissue. but healing from that accident [a year-long process] something happened when I learned how to love myself. now i'm trying to make it up to myself, for the rest of my life I will do my best to love me and care for me. I have ahead-of-schedule physical deterioration/aches and pains, probably have the body of a 70 year old, but I take much better care of myself now. I don't know how many years I have left. I wouldn't mind going to heaven early but just the same I know I still have some work to do.