Diagnosis at relatively old age

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I've been pretty sure I had it for about 6 years now I guess, when I learned that my son (whom I didn't have any contact with before that) had a diagnosis.
Except for in school, I can't really say that I have struggled. I've always had lots of friends and work was going good. But as for friends, I've always made friends via friends, so after moving to a different part of the country about 10 years ago I've not managed to make a single friendship.
At work I'm very diciplined, at home it's a completely different story. I don't clean, I don't do the dishes, I don't open my mail etc.
Relationships is something that I've had problems with, but I don't really find it important to be in one. But is that a hen or an egg?

/Mats

That all sounds very familiar. I used to be very focussed on work, but that's because I had to be, in order to do it. My standard of work was good because I had a stubborn, perfectionist streak and I'd check everything again and again, not because I had any "idiot savant" Rain Man style skills.

But it meant I never had any energy left when I got home to look after myself or my home, or maintain relationships properly. And in the end I'd burn myself out of each job and that would take the (by then unsatisfactory) relationship with it, and sometimes the home too.

I was diagnosed in March 2019 at the age of 44. I'm starting to realise now that (for me) the only way out of cyclical anxiety and depression is going to be deliberately taking a lot more time over my own health, in a deliberate, structured way. Really paying attention to how I'm feeling and what I should be doing, eating well, exercising, and getting enough rest. That might mean I can only work part time, but a positive part time experience would be much better than going back to full time and yet another crash and burn cycle.

I understand. Actually, this is part of why I would like to find out myself. I rarely felt bullied myself, but when you are clumsy and you look weird, many people just assume that you are an imbecile and either ignore you or patronize you. An attitude that I always find rich because it often comes from people who are clearly lacking logic or culture.

I am guessing that you read a lot of fiction and read about different characters going through life experiences such as bullying and how they interact which is why you never had to encounter actual-factual bullying in real life. I may be wrong, but science seems to suggest children who read fiction are exposed to less bullying.

I find this strange. It may be true on a general plane, but no.
I was fed with all the classics, Robinson Cruseo, Three musketeers, Treasure island, Sherlock Holmes, Last of the Mohicans, you name it. My father read them to me as bedtime stories before I learned to read by myself.
And I was bullied.

/Mats

Hello. I was diagnosed last year and for me a lot of things clicked too. Looking over my life things make more sense knowing just as you stated.

And yes, I'm starting to realize this as well. The more research I do and more I found about myself and others on the spectrum, I've been noticing a pattern of this.

Welcome to WP!