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Hello

I was diagnosed a year ago and realized I don’t know anyone else with autism or have many people in my life who I can discuss autism with. My wife is an excellent listener and very accommodating as we both work to understand my diagnosis and what it exactly entails. I am deeply grateful she’s in my life.

But as much as she reassures me, I’m sure she will eventually get tired of me talking to her about my autism. Everyday I have a realization about how deeply autism has affected me and continues to affect me and a lot of the time I choose to keep it to myself. It would just be nice to have someone autistic to talk to about it, hence why I’m here.

I’m mostly here for fun, just to get any random thought out of my brain about how autism dictates my daily life.

Welcome to WP! I think you had a good idea coming here.

I can understand both the realization of how much Autism affects so much of our life, and assuming your symptoms are mild, the limited interest your bride seems to have.

When I got the first hint to find out about Autism (I was 64, at the time) it didn't take much Internet searching for me to suspect I might be a High Functioning Autistic. So I got my bride involved and it didn't take her long to agree. I found and took the AQ test and it said my score indicated "significant Autistic traits", and then my bride was kind enough to take the test on my behalf—answering the questions the way she thought I should answer them—and she got similar results.

On the strength of that I arranged an Adult Autism Assessment and my bride very much wanted to go with me. At the first meeting the Psychologist said we'd need two more appointments and my bride should not come to the next one. (I assume the "three appointments" was in part because of all of the background information I provided and because that's the way that Psychologist did things).

My bride was with me at the third appointment when I got the diagnosis: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 1 (Mild).

And I think she may have done a little additional research since then. But she doesn't show too much interest. And that makes sense to me. She already knows me. She already knows my "quirks". Having a label for the quirks doesn't change them. After I got the diagnosis she was married to the same guy she was married to before I got the diagnosis. There wasn't much action required on her part. (Note, my symptoms are MILD—things might be quite different for someone with more severe symptoms.)

If you and your bride are progressing through life adequately well I suspect you should be content if she accepts the diagnosis, learns a little, and doesn't worry about it. And that you should get used to the occasional eye-rolling from her.

I offer for your use a phrase I use whenever I think my bride has bumped up against my Autistic traits:

"I have a doctor's note for that!'
My bride was tired of hearing that before we left the Psychologist's office!
But welcome to WP! You can find folk here to talk about Autism with. Just remember two things:
>=>- Autism is a Spectrum—for some of us it's a difference for some of us it's a disaster.
>=>- If you've met one Autistic, you've met one Autistic—each of us is different.

Welcome! It takes a lot of sorting. When we discover we are autistic or are diagnosed, it changes our perception of everything we believed and thought we understood and turns it all upside down. I did not get diagnosis until age 68 so I have loads of sorting to do, but the "aha" moments of self discovery are so valuable and life changing. Now we know we are autistic we can make accommodations to make our lives better and easier. I think the 2 best things about diagnosis for me were the relief when I understood that my entire miserable past of failure and pain was not "all my fault" as I had been told throughout my life. I was able to forgive myself and others, nobody knew! The second best thing was finding out I was not alone, but that there are many folks on forums like this one with years of lived experience and insights to share. People who actually understand! What a gift. My life has been so much better since diagnosis. Glad you are with us!

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Welcome to Wrong Planet. I hope you find good advice to any of your questions and concerns.

And again.. Welcome to wrong planet …. Hope visiting here might assist you in getting a better understanding of yourself , perhaps of your life too.