I was diagnosed early and had never even heard the word autism before, so I doubt that changed a thing for me. Not entirely sure if it has gotten worse over time, become more apparent with life changes and changing expectations, or some combination thereof. I did well in school with my stereotypical Aspie memory, and I have always tried to do whatever I can to avoid drawing attention to myself in public, not “masking” but essentially being invisible, so people see me enough to not run into me or sit in a chair I’m in but otherwise as far as everyone else is concerned, I may as well not exist. So probably I wasn’t quite so blatantly obvious and didn’t have as much trouble from it when I was younger, and it became more of a problem when the expectation was no longer just get good grades and lie low. I don’t think I’ve made a successful life transition on time since starting school, that is usually when it is most apparent for me (puberty, college, working, living on my own, etc.). When I was a kid I fully expected to grow up, live independently, and have a good job just like most people, but as it grew nearer, it became clear that it wasn’t going to happen, quite likely ever.
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"