Diagnosis of Autism in Adults: Nine Autistic Adults Discuss Their Autism Diagnosis Process

Diagnosis of autism in adults can be a challenging process for many. Autistic adults look very different from each other and the diagnosis process is not always straight forward which unfortunately means that misdiagnosis is also quite common. If you've reached adulthood without being identified then you probably have significant masking and coping strategies which make seeing beneath that facade difficult (especially for the untrained eye!).

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// WELCOME TO ASPERGERS FROM THE INSIDE!!

My name is Paul and I discovered I have Aspergers at age 30.

Yes, I know, I don't look autistic. That's exactly why I started this blog, because if I didn't show you, you would never know.

As the name suggests, this channel is devoted to giving you insight into the world of Aspergers.
This blog started off being just my story, but I've learned SO MUCH about my own condition
from meeting others on the Autism Spectrum that now I make sure to feature their stories as well.

I've come a long way in my own personal journey.
Now I'm sharing what I've found so you don't have to learn it the hard way too.

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// WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS BLOG

You can expect me to get to the point with concise useful information.
I focus on what is most important and don't shy away from difficult topics.

The best way to learn about Autism is to see it in real life ( i.e. via the stories of many, many people on the spectrum).

In this channel I endeavour to show you what Autism and Aspergers look like in real people and to also give you some insight as to what's happening on the inside.
I upload a new video every weekend with some bonus content thrown in mid-week too.
There's always new stuff coming through so be sure to check back and see what you've missed. (Is this where I'm supposed to tell you to hit that subscribe button?)

Topics Include:
- What is Aspergers/Autism?
- Aspie Tips, coping strategies, and advice on common issues
- Learning Emotional Intelligence (this is my special interest!)
- Autism in real life: stories from special guests

Everything I do is and endeavour to go deeper and take you 'behind the scenes' to understand what may, at first glance, seem 'odd'.
oh, and I love busting stereotypes and turning preconceptions upsidedown :)

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// ABOUT ME

I discovered I have aspergers at the age of thrity.
It has been my life's mission to understand these funny creatures we call humans.
My special interest is a combination of emotional intelligence, psychology, neuroscience, thinking styles, behaviour, and motivation. (I.e. what makes people tick)
My background is in engineering and I see the world in systems to be analysed.
My passion is for taking the incredibly complex, deciphering the pattern, and explaining it very simply.
My philosophy is that blogging is an adventure best shared.

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// EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE TRAINING

I also run autism friendly online emotional intelligence training. So if you like my direct, systematic style, and would like to improve your own emotional intelligence skills, check it out here:

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// CONTACT

Blogging is an adventure best shared which means I'd love to hear from you!
Feel free to leave me a comment or send me and email at any time and I'll do my best to respond promptly.

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy this channel!
I look forward to hearing from you!

Peace,

~Paul

[RockawayCCW]

Do you get tired of people asking, "You're so smart, why aren't you successful?" I never had an answer to that question until I found out I was autistic. Now I know. I'm all IQ and not much EQ.

[glenndavies]

I'm a 52 yr old high functioning Autistic/Aspergers, diagnosed professionally when I was 50, but every thing was a mess already, but to finally know why I never did fit in, the weight lifted of my shoulders & to begin to understand to heal, amazing, finding you, amazing, so very grateful for this fantastic content, I've found my tribe, my r load to recovery, thank you all here today...

[fingersoverleaves]

i was literally just diagnosed an hour ago. looking forward to this!!

[christopherwoods]

I'm 57 and have never been formally diagnosed because I've just come to terms with the fact that I am autistic. I've taken every self-test online and all of them came up stating I should be tested for autism. At first, I went into a sort of denial thinking "You can't always believe what's on the internet". Then I was high and listened to some of Samdee Sams videos. Being stoned slows my thinking down enough that I can hear things instead of my internal chatter talking over what is being imparted to me. Absolutely everything I heard on those videos fit me to a T. I can't deny I'm autistic. There's no test that can convince me I'm not. I would like to eventually speak with a professional about it (if I need a formal diagnosis for something having to do with my job or something like that). But other than that, I finally feel like a door was opened that shows me why I've reacted to the world around me. That I'm not weird or eccentric. There are actual reasons why I've been this way my entire life. That part is liberating. . The part I have problems with is mourning the fact that my life may have been much more positive had I known about this decades before this. I probably would have made many different choices.

[farcamp]

Thank you all for sharing your experiences, they are so familiar. It seems like Australia and the UK have much higher awareness and acceptance of those with autism/Aspergers. Here in the US it’s taboo to think of anyone but a child as being different. I live in a city with a very large university with an autism research center for children and adolescents, but after repeated calls for referrals to groups or ways to meet with others like me (60 years old), they never returned my call. I often wonder where their kids go after aging out of that system. It’s a lonely existence, as I get older it gets more tiring to try to fit in. Thanks for acknowledging the reality of our atypical lives —the struggles and triumphs. Thanks, too, Paul for all your hard work bringing the message to us and the rest of the world.

[brigidroche]

3 years ago. I’m 60. Stress from being evicted brought all my ptsd ( from early attempts to “help” me) To the surface. I was seeing a Psychologist for support . He saw all my weirdness for a year while I was self studying autism to see if I was. I was. My Therapist and I just went through the DSM5 criteria for Autism and he agreed. WithThe Autism And PTSD. Which I now get ssd for. Thankfully. 🙏🙃

[stevemitchell]

I have just discovered this site. Perhaps I'm not really alone after all.

[ashleyw]

hearing this conversation made me want to cry because of how overwhelmed I was getting with how relatable a lot of your guys' struggles were and the similarities in behavior and or struggles. Hearing Paul say that needing to go through the lengthy process of trying to get an "official" diagnosis from someone isn't really necessary is very comforting, because where I live there aren't really any resources or "professionals" who would be able to do that for adults, let alone women, and I don't have the finances or emotional stability to put myself through a lengthy stress test with the hopes of getting an answer.

[thecannabiscrone]

I remember the adults from my childhood, and their litany of, "You're not trying hard enough"...or "You're not working to your potential"...or "Maybe if you acted more like the other kids, they'd like you better."
Finding out just how wrong the adults from my childhood were about me has been an emotional psunami of anger, relief, hurt, validation, a whole LOT of rejection, a bit of acceptance here and there, and a profound sadness at the cruelty I inflicted upon myself when I was so desperate for acceptance and to "just be normal."

[Dustyonelife]

Thank you, this was so great. Really appreciate everyone's contributions. I was assessed a few months ago, age 59. I cried through this presentation, really touched me to hear your experiences and validated so many of my own.

[Varulfen]

It's really interesting to hear, how different the process was for everybody!
I'm going through my own diagnosis process right now and it's very different from what I expected. I have been mostly answering questions / filling out questioneers. The diagnosing doctor asked for a person that knows me very well to come in, but since it's plague times we agreed on having them write some things down and mail it in instead. I decided to have my boyfriend do it, because my parents never really thought anything was wrong with me - probably because they also have undiagnosed adhd and autism. I'm the first in my family to get any kind of psychological diagnosis, so that's been an adventure. When I learned about my adhd I suddenly noticed all those behaviours in my relatives and it's so strange to think I allways thought everyone was "normal". lol

[stevenl]

This is incredible. I’m actually hearing people talk of very similar struggles as I’ve had for my whole life and I had pretty much chalked it all up to the fact that maybe I’m just totally broken or a freak.

I just found this channel two days ago and that was the same day I came to the knowledge that I’m almost 90% sure I would receive an official diagnosis for ASD.

I have spent my entire adult life, after a childhood full of bullying and loneliness and being misunderstood, “trying to be normal.” I’m now 31 years old and I can’t do it anymore. Ive been fired from every job I’ve ever worked with the exception for a couple where I managed to quit before being fired, and when it happened again this year in January, I have been having a seemingly progressive meltdown since mid-January. Things have been getting harder and harder for me to cope, and I just thought I was maybe going crazy or something for not caring about my responsibilities anymore, and I have an 8 month pregnant wife and a 4 year old boy. Of course I’m not going to give up on them, but this year has been so tempting to just stop trying after a lifetime of masking.

This whole thing is jacking up my stress levels even more than it normally is because I’m becoming disturbed by the fact that all the personal work I did since I was 18 years old to “be normal” was completely in vain. Now I wonder what the future looks like as I no longer have any hope that I’ll eventually be neurotypical. I’m all alone in this, and just had my mother gaslight me when telling her I might be on the spectrum, telling me she got me tested when I was a boy and I was diagnosed as OCD and having a personality disorder, so my mother was blaming me for why I am the way I am again.

At least my wife is receptive…

[kylekennedy]

I love how there’s moments between them talking that feel like pauses. If you look at the right time it’s almost like we’re just looking at people through webcams. But then all the sudden someone talks and it’s either a brilliant insight or a supportive sentiment. And somehow they aren’t talking over each other.

I’m 31 and diagnosed ADHD as a teen and spent ten years ignoring that thinking it was a “fixable childhood issue”. It took me probably 2 years to go from “I want to be reevaluated” to “I signed up for an assessment”.

In that time I started researching ASD almost a year ago (and then ignored my research and self-tests for another 6 months) and all these little pieces from childhood to current are making more sense to me. But just because I understand myself doesn’t mean I can explain myself to others (unless I was given the opportunity to write out a life history and an up to date mood breakdown).

Finally started writing emails last week to try to get some steps in the right direction. Unfortunately I’m finding a lot of “please call” type of messages for different offices, and telehealth stuff is making me nervous but we still don’t have offices open I guess.

Thanks for sharing your journeys/ discoveries/ struggles. If there’s one thing that’s painfully obvious to me now it’s that our mental health system needs to be redesigned to be accessible to people with mental health needs.

Wish everyone the best.

[thenobleone-]

It's important to know your genetics Aspergers is a genetic thing. My Dad is from Afghanistan and I know I inherited this condition from his side of the family. I hope to speak about my life story some day. I'm blessed to be alive today. I want to meet people who have struggled with Autism

[yxxdknr]

Hi I would just like to say that you have helped me much, I used to think I was all alone, like no one was the same, but now thanks to you I'm almost certain I have Autism. Thank you ♥️. Words cannot express how grateful I am 💖💖💖

[didyouhearthat]

Than you so much Paul for this opportunity to hear this discussion with all this beautiful people. Thank you very much

[jenniferm]

Thank you to my ladies from Oregon. So many things you said spoke to my heart and my experiences. I’m going to the GP today to get my referral to a Dr that can test me. My GP just thinks I have anxiety. Yeah anxiety from 49 years of masking!! Our health system is a joke. Feel like I am preparing for battle. Every time I leave the GP’s office I’m close to tears. Thanks again to all the participants of this call. It has been really helpful. At least I know that being dismissed by health care providers is super normal.

[annecsabagh]

Thank you so much to everyone for being so brave in sharing your stories. I can so relate to what everyone has shared. I am 45 now and learned 2 years ago on Dec. 17, 2018, that I am on the spectrum/Aspie. So grateful to have found Aspergers From The Inside, as well as so many other positive neurodiverse channels and people. Happy Holidays to everyone!

[katiepatrick]

Oh My Goodness!! I am a 32yr old mother of four beautiful children. My oldest three are diagnosed somewhere on the spectrum, 8yr, 5yr and 9month old boys and a 3yr old girl. I am in the process of my Diagnosis right now!! Thank you for doing this video!! I am so excited!! This is perfect timing!! I’m so grateful for everyone’s time that is going into this!! Thank you so much!! You ALL are adding so much value to the world!!

[GraySmithMusic]

I'm only 10 minutes into this but already it's been so rewarding. Thank you for making this available for people like me.