Diagnosed...what next?

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Original question: Diagnosed...What next?
Answer: Debate not only politics, but also the basic rights and privileges that all human beings are entitled despite socioeconomic status and bias....this post got a lot more interesting lol.

Another topic...have you noticed that mental health care isn't covered worth s**t on most insurance plans?

Well the health care isn't really free it's paid out of taxes. I wonder guys how would you feel if suddenly you had to pay for elementary and high school education. You'd probably say that sucks right?

I think mental health should be looked at more than it is at the moment.

Diagnosed - what next?

There may be an existential dilemma then the process of some cognitive restructuring, because the self-identity you had is no longer complete and unchanged. Essentially it's back to the big picture question which typically occurs to most people during late adolescence or early adulthood: who am I? The reconstruction of identity takes time and some posters have described their own stages through this really well. That journey is a very personal one, not a process that everyone goes through in the same way.

You live.

Okay. With my sage simplicity out of the way (and have good not read any other responses), here's my experience:

I was diagnosed as an adult a few years ago and, for a while I was numb to it and not really sure what to think (even though when I first learned about Asperger's I saw myself very clearly).

Once it sunk in, I ended up going back through my life and redefining a lot of experiences and trying to understand how my aspieness had impacted me. Then I got quite frustrated that the diagnosis was not picked up much sooner (this is actually a typical response from what I've read but I didn't find it terribly productive).

Then I sucked it up, figured out what challenges I still had and what supports I needed to overcome them. Well, that last part should be present tense. I'm still very much doing that.

In between my daily troubleshooting, I live!

I would agree with the above poster. After the shock of the diagnosis (even if you were expecting it), then life goes back to normal and you kind of look back over your life with a new perspective. You'll probably be confused as to why you were not diagnosed earlier but you accept that it didn't happen. After a while, you may even be more accepting as to your aspie traits and don't try to hide them quite so much (or at least that's where I am now). Oh, and not constantly pushing yourself and being ashamed to not perfectly fit into NT society kind of lifts away too- at least for me. I know I am who I am and if people don't like it- well, oh well. I don't exactly need them anyway.

NEtikiman and nyxjord

I appreciate both of your posts and understand completely. I am definitely noticing my past more now than ever and I am embracing my self now and no longer feeling like I need to blend. This forum really helps with that, if people don't like who I am, they don't have to deal with me.