How old were you when you found out you were autistic

Post Reply New Topic

My first grade teacher has a son with Asperger's (about my age who I am now friends with) and when I was 6 she got my parents to pursue a diagnosis because she noticed my autistic tendencies.

This last Christmas when I was 24. Everything all made sense ever since.

I was 15 when I saw in my psychiatric report "I would say she has an autistic spectrum disorder, mild." I had already knew I had some autistic tendencies just by reading about autism online when I was 14 because I had saw Mercury Rising and I got curious about it. But I didn't think I could be autistic because I could talk and I was nothing like Simon and my mom said I wasn't autistic. I already knew about Asperger's but I didn't know it was a form of autism and I didn't know what it was then anyway.

Was pointed out to me at 39, started the process for diagnosis, have seen 3 people, all then mention as they are psychologists they cant give a diagnosis and they didnt like to give labels but was highly likely i am.. a year and a half on and still trying to see the right professionals! System is a bit messed up here! Also very few professionals so waiting list is long and those that are young need it first ( and rightly so)... However i am still not feeling complete and somewhat of an outsider on here until i officially hear it! silly i know, but for whatever reason i need to officially hear it! However after it was first pointed out and i read about it, it was light switch after light switch going on.. I suddenly felt a sense that i wasn't going mad because of my awareness of how different i feel to everyone around me... Its still an incomplete journey, but i see a little light!

Please do remember that you're not an outsider even if you're not "formally" diagnosed.

This site is not just for "officially" diagnosed people. It's for a wide variety of people--anybody who is sympathetic to autism, really, even if they are NT as hell.

I'm undiagnosed. I'll probably get an official diagnose later down the line but as of right now it's really not that important

I had no idea until I was 60 and a family member suggested it. I immediately realized it was correct and got diagnosed.

Thanks Kraft! Means a lot that comment! But still feel somewhat distant, but that can also be reflective of how i have always felt round people. Also i need to hear it definitively, its like a huge build up of a sigh of relief that suddenly gets wrenched away from you when a psychologist puts in there report that there that a formal diagnosis would not make a difference as well as a few other totally uncharacteristics that she has now decided to put down on my medical record for eternity.. Trust was one of my largest issues when seeing the third ""Professional"""and she has managed to certainly destroy that as far as her ""profession opinion"" goes! its so simple but so complicated to portray, but these are also people that have not spent any time or very little time with those on the spectrum... Its not that i want a label at all, but a way i can understand myself more in a world i literally feel alien in... but as many will know, some of these people only seem to observe whats seen on the outside and do not understand the turmoil and torture that is felt every second on the inside...This isn't meant to be a sob story, but is very real to me and my experiences on many different varying degrees..

I knew I was autistic when I was 17, but didn't get diagnosed until I was 21. My mom suspected autism from the time I was about eight, and apparently informed me of her suspicions when I was twelve, though I have no recollection of this conversation.

I knew I was different since I was 8. I found out I was Autistic at 45 and got my official diagnosis at 47.

I was diagnosed with aspergers 3 months ago.

Wow I feel for you and your struggle ><
I feared this would happen to me when I finally looked for a diagnosis but ended up incredibly lucky and in the hands of an Autistic PHD Psychologist who ONLY works with high functioning autism. He doesn't believe in cures or training us like NT's.

Fight for your diagnosis, don't let them discourage you

83 days and 71 minutes ago at 62

Shortly after turning 16.

I knew I was different than everyone else at an early age, sometime in early grade school. I had very obsessive special interests (to my parents, fireworks became a four letter word), major food allergies (caused me to not eat at picnics because I often could not tell what was in the food) and a few other things that set me apart from other kids in school. However, I did not consider it being caused by autism until I self diagnosed a year and a half ago when I was in my early 40s. You have to remember back when I was growing up, the Asperger's Syndrome definition within autism did not really exist. I did not fit the classic definition of autism back then, since I had no delay in talking ability and had been tested to have a high IQ. It was weird to be way ahead of my class in academic subjects, yet to be behind in maturity/social level at the same time.

5 year old.