Diagnosed in the mid-90s?

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Hi all,

I am female and just turned 30. Despite having had pretty typical symptoms as a child, especially around kindergarten, I was not diagnosed until very recently. I am wondering how many women my age got diagnosed...I guess because I am feeling angry that no one picked up on what was going on, but want to know if maybe there was not enough research or awareness at the time for someone to have figured it out. Was anyone out there around my age and diagnosed as a child??

Not a woman and 8 years older but what I recall from my experience as a kid was they were only looking for people who were obvious. If you could mask they'd just call it ADD or say you're lazy/undisciplined/underachieving/etc.

I'm a 31-year-old female diagnosed in the 90s. I feel like the only female my age who was diagnosed in childhood and I get angry about it. Just because I started off on the wrong foot on my first few days of school they had to put me under a microscope and watch and report every little movement I did. When I'd calmed down and went back to my usual social self, they should have left me alone. Children go through phases all the time. Why didn't they just put it down to a phase and maybe anxiety, and move on? I'd understand it if the disruptive behaviour continued but it didn't. It just lasted for a couple of weeks, maybe because I didn't like school at first.

I think it was around 2000 when I was diagnosed. Female, diagnosed in childhood. Granted I’m pretty “obvious,” and my autism presents itself in far more of a masculine manner.

I was in an online support group with over 20 ASD women (35-50), so older than you. Only one was diagnosed as a child. She was the most outspoken and least "obedient" of us. She's said she was as a child also. She didn't like the diagnosis b/c at the time it was less helpful and more stigmatizing. Of course that's still true today - hopefully to a somewhat lesser degree. I don't think ASD really came into focus (as not classic Autism) until 5-some years ago and for girls and women I'd guess we're at least another 5+ years out for reliable diagnosis.

Thanks all! It's helpful to hear your stories. I definitely feel less angry about being missed knowing that there just was not much information about ASD in girls at the time.

I was diagnosed in the early 1990's. My teachers and parents noticed something "off" about me, so I had evaluations done.

My own experience with those diagnosed at a younger age vs those diagnosed when they are an adult is that there is a huge difference between upbringings. The ones who went under the radar had grown a good mask of their symptoms and only got diagnosed after a meltdown/curiosity/couldn't live with the mask anymore. Those who knew all there life have a better chance of just accepting who they are, there was not the shock period, and they tend not to mask as much.

I was diagnosed in late 1997 at the age of 12. I only got diagnosed because I happened to see the right doctor and happened to be in the right bad situation or else it wouldn't have happened.

I did not get a diagnoses till I was 23...

So as you can imagine I had autism the whole time growing up, no one caught on to it....but turns out there was a reason why I felt like I was different and/or one step behind my peers socially all the time growing up...but no one ever thought to suggest maybe autism? No a couple teachers suspected adhd but my mom wanted me to just be a kid so she didn't pay attention....I was a kid for sure but a lonely kid always wondering what was wrong with me and why I didn't seem to connect with my peers and what was wrong with me. Even tried to commit suicide when I was 15..and still most people in my life didn't and still don't get it. I didn't really want to die I was just sick of how I felt and for a minute I thought that would be the only relief. But when it all started kicking in(I tried to overdose on drugs out of my moms medicine cabinet, ibuprophen, tylenol and a bunch of anti-deppressant pills my mom had got but wasn't taking)Luckily I stupidly did it the morning of a school day so the drugs started making me feel weird and a teacher caught on and so an abulance got called and I was ok...but idk I guess for the first time I felt kind of good about things and I thought if I ended it there I would at least die with good memories. I do not feel like that now, like I very much do not want to die or be killed but there was the time that suicide felt almost comforting.

But nah just saying I felt so different that at the age of 15, I tried to kill myself mostly because I did not understand why I felt the way I did and I didn't know how to deal with it. Not sure I even really wanted to die than, I guess I just didn't know how else to deal with how I felt. But not sure being diagnosed as a young child would have actually helped any of that.

^^ Similar (ideation in my case). In the 90s I was in so much pain (anxiety?) and simply wanted relief. At 6 I hoped to meet elves, at 10 I hoped aliens would take me away. By 20 I was self-harming (unofficial reports say 75% to 90% of "high functioning" women do). When my favorite cousin found "permanent relief" for herself, I sought immediate relief medicinally (psychiatrist) to get me through my 20s and early 30s. In my mid 30s, a medical condition almost killed me and I had a small sense that I was glad I survived. Now in my 40s I am soooooooooooo glad I am alive. I hope to stay self-reliant (more or less) as long as I can to enjoy this phase.

Back to topic: I was in a world of pain in the 90s, but I wasn't diagnosed b/c I was capable of being expressive and friendly and twirled my hair, bit my nails and rubbed my ears, etc. (instead of flapping my hands). Ironically my 10yo daughter is non-expressive and does flap her hands (a lot!! ! and claps and pushes on her desk) and I can't get her diagnosed even though we're in the 20s (2020s) - she presents as I do: friendly and caring. We've worked hard on it. Crap.