Why get a label?

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So, I'm autistic enough that it's kind of silly that I wasn't diagnosed as a kid. Everyone close to me knows I'm autistic (classical autism with hyperlexia, not Asperger's; I had a significant speech delay). I grew up in a small northern Canadian town in the early 1980s. Autism just wasn't well known, and I'm very high-functioning. Then by the time I was 14 I had learned to pass as neurotypical. (Being a pretty girl with big boobs helped a lot, I think.) So I've never been diagnosed.

This has probably been asked many times before, but I haven't seen it so I'm going to ask it again.

What are the benefits of getting a diagnosis as an adult?

Yes it has been asked many times before - if you a search for adult diagnosis you'll reveal lots of threads.

Anyway ... Reasons to get a diagnosis as an adult:

1. For your own peace of mind - to 'know' you're not just imagining it.
2. Because you are having some difficulties in your life and you think a diagnosis will help you understand better how you can help yourself.
3. You need some form of support (specialist counselling, personal support, medication, workplace adjustments etc) and having a diagnosis will open that up to you.

Hope that helps.
YB

Doubt it.

The symptoms of ASDs tend to become more pronounced around adolescence (various reasons; increased expectations leading to abilities being exceeded, peers developing socially as you stay the same [for the most part], and biological reasons).

I plan to get diagnosed so that I can put it in my author bio at the end of my books someday.`-`

Well, I started making friends pretty easily around then. I joined the "nerd herd" (people actually called us that). But... a few years later the closest friends I made then tried to drug and rape me. So I guess it's pretty clear that's all they were interested in from the start. Either way, the years in between were pretty happy. High school was way more pleasant for me than elementary school.

Besides, when I was very young I had a speech delay and motor problems. I didn't smile even once until I was five. By the time I was in high school I might have been uncoordinated, quiet and awkward, but I could walk and talk and I smiled pretty often. I call that improvement.

So, yeah, maybe I didn't really pass as neurotypical, but I felt normal for the first time, and I'm going to keep thinking of it in a positive way.

I also became moar socially aware and adept starting at age 14. I made friends for the first time around that time. High school was a good eggsperience for me. I did well in school, and I had a few friends, with whom I hung out at school and occasionally outside of school, and I was satisfied with the amount of socialization and inclusion that I had.

I don't think that social functioning necessarily deteriorates during adolescence for autistic kids. Prior to adolescence, I was so asocial, and my social functioning was so low, that there was only one direction for me to go, as I developed moar social knowledge and theory of mind from reading books and watching TV. I didn't really understand the concept of socialization before a certain age, around 13, just like I didn't really understand the concept of communication before another certain age, around 9. I don't fit the profile of the autistic child having some level of social functioning during childhood, then falling behind her NT peers and becoming increasingly isolated during adolescence. For me, it was moar like not having any social functioning during childhood, then developing some for the first time during adolescence. Age 14 was when I had enough social knowledge and awareness to socialize and develop friendships for the first time.

My initial making of friends followed a very autistic pattern. In 8th grade, my family moved to California, and I went to a new school. On my first day, the school paired me up with a buddy to show me around, and this included going to eat lunch with the buddy's group of friends. From then on, I ate lunch with this group eberryday, until the end of junior high. Then, during the summer, I had no communications with any of them, and I didn't think about them at all. Then, on the first day of high school, I see one of them, and they come up to me and ask me where I want to eat lunch. So we decide to eat lunch at a certain place, and I go there at lunch time, and the same group is there. From then on, we ate lunch there eberryday, and after a few months, I realized that I had friends.

I fit the regular pattern pretty well.
I did okay til adolescence and then sort of lost traction and became a loner.

I disagree: I was far more autistic as a child than as an adolescent. I think it can go either way.

A quick peek at Google is showing that some autistics get better with age, some get worse, and some stay the same. My mother, who is an elementary school teacher with a master's degree, just about worked herself to death helping me when I was little. And apparently research shows that early intervention and higher parental education & socioeconomic status are common among kids whose autism improves. So adolescence is tough for everyone, but for some autistic people it still beats childhood.

Even though I was uncommunicative and asocial during childhood, I was actually verry merry berry happy in my own world. I didn't know what communication and socialization were, so I didn't miss them either.

It isn't a label, it's a signpost. You can be aware of your condition, your limitations and your skills, and have more peace of mind.

If you are sure you are autistic, then a formal diagnosis might not be necessary.

The number one advantage is knowing what's wrong with you.
Since you already do, I'd say "Being able to get proper help" (in whatever way you need).

Why get a label?

I found two reasons:

- to get proper help - when I got diagnosis, I found psychotherapist accustomed to autism spectrum - and as far it therapist who helped me the most

- I was trying whole life to know what's wrong with me, why I am as I am - now I know it

to me it was a great relief. i have for the last ten years (at least) felt so stupid so many times and with a diagnose i don't have to blame myself for it. for the most of my life i have tried hard to be 'normal' and never quite made it. now i can tell myself 'this is how/what i am'. and the choice i made about education and work was wrong, i now know, and maybe i can get help to achieve more success at work. the diagnose does explain quite a bit for me and feels like an huge step forward. and the possibility for proper help is also a good thing.

the thing about 'label', that is for people who doesn't quite understand or something. doesn't affect me, i'm happy about my diagnose.

I've been thinking lately that it might be nice to have some help with executive function. There must be established strategies out there... right? Maybe I should contact a psychologist or psychiatrist. I don't even know where to start.

I've been improving with my executive functioning. I have a chalkboard that is sectioned off into days. For each day, I have a task list - ie, "scoop litterbox", "sweep (every other day)", "water plants"... etc. I check off each task with coloured chalk, so that when the list for the day is completed, the check marks form a rainbow pattern. That helps me. Mayhaps something like this would help you? I find I need to motivate myself with things like pretty rainbow colours. :/