Do you feel its better that you know you have AS now or

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Do you feel its better that you know you have AS now or better when you didnt know?

Life still s*cks now, but it's definitely better since I know there's a reason for the madness. Was diagnosed at 23 and before then thought I was an alien or life was a game that everyone was in on but me. Turns out, I'm just not good looking and have a different brain than most.

Better. Sure life still sucks but at least I know why. It's give me something to write about too.

I knew that something was amiss when I was six years old, I found out what it was by the age of ten. It eventually resulted in me going to an autistic school which was a massive help and stopped me from wanting to take my own life. At the time I felt like I'd come from a bad batch and truly wished I'd never been born. I reckon I would have scraped through as a successful NT by now and being oblivious would have helped massively. On the other hand it is very possible that the diagnosis saved my life. The dury's still out on whether it was worth saving tho

I would rather not know.

It has helped dramatically with my sanity knowing that there is a reason for my insanity; if that makes any sense at all. Before I just thought I was crazy, now I know I'm not. I wish I had known years earlier.

i'm very curious about this reply. if you'd rather not know, why participate here? you could always just ignore the diagnosis

Slightly better but not by much. The big advantage of knowing I have autism for me is no longer having to worry about being on the social/mental/emotional level of my peers since I know with autism it is an unrealistic goal. Though in my college years I still set the bar too high for myself. But after getting a better understanding of autism I can set the bar as low as I want and not feel like a complete failure. Now if only I can actually convince other people that I actually have limits as a person with autism.

I am glad I know the reason for much of the difficulties I had/have. I wish I would have known when I was a child. I think things would have been much different! Or at least somewhat different. Now that I know, I also don't have the complete self-loathing I had even just a couple months ago because I know there is a logical reason why everyone hates me, and for the first time ever I know: it is not my fault.

It was very important for me to know that I have AS. Before I knew, I gave myself a very hard time for having social difficulties and for not being able to relate well to other people. Not knowing what it's called didn't stop me from knowing that I am not normal, and from always feeling there was something terribly wrong with me. Not knowing for such a long time (I had a late diagnosis in my early 40's) possibly did a lot of damage to my self esteem because I felt like a freak, like an alien and I used to think I was actually mad.
I didn't think getting a diagnosis would make a lot of difference to my life, because I still have to live in this world and the world isn't going to adapt itself to suit me, but it was still important for me to know for sure. In fact getting a diagnosis had made a great difference to my life because I have been able to access much needed support. I realise though that I am lucky to have support services where I live.
It has also helped me to understand things about myself that had never made sense before and which I had felt a lot of shame over. Since finding out that I have AS I have been able to become more accepting of myself as I am, although that has taken a long time to happen. I no longer give myself such a hard time for not being able to be what I am not and never can be.

I wonder at people who assume that not knowing would have been better, that they would have been pushed harder or pushed themselves harder because they wouldn't have a diagnosis to fall back on. I know that I was oblivious and tried pretty hard and all it got me was a litany of failures. The grass is just grass.

I do feel it's better to know than to not know, though. When I didn't know, I just kept pushing my limits until I burned out and found my limits much more constrictive than before. At least now I know why.

I'm glad I know, because it took a huge weight off my shoulders. Before, I just assumed everything was my fault. Plus, now I know that I can do things differently to make my life easier instead of continuing to try to do things the way people are "supposed" to do them and failing.

It gave a new name to everything and justified my feelings. I can be aware of my tendencies without feeling like I'm a failure because I can't do everything I want to do in the time that I want to do it in. I have a community here where I can touch base with other people who have similar and different issues with the same condition. It helped.

It has changed my life for the better. When I learned exactly what it is I had troubles with instead of blindly guessing, I became more self-aware. There were a few years where I had trouble accepting what I've had though...and it only took until recently for me to become adjusted to the feeling.

I was diagnosed at 7, I don't really know what life was like for me before that. But sometimes I do wish I was diagnosed later. I've never felt anything positive towards my Aspergers. Maybe that's because I don't remember a time when I didn't know I have it? A lot of people here are really happy because they now understand why they're like they are. I can understand that.

I'm ok knowing it now, diagnosed late in 30's after burning out. Found it hard to figure out what process I do is me and what I had invented to socially compensate. I'm hiding from the world for the last few months only really talking to 2 people. I like the way it is now, I like knowing, it easier.