“I was severely bullied in middle school and had an extremely difficult time maintaining relationships with friends.
I was surprised to learn that a lot of things lined up.
That’s when I decided to have the evaluation.
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After I received the results, I thought, thank God everything makes sense now.
There’s actually an explanation for my behavior!”
In particular, I had major problems with people misinterpreting my email communications.
Some of my supervisors also complained about my lack of eye contact and negative or judgmental facial expressions.
They also claimed that I was overly rule-oriented and inflexible.
“I almost had to denigrate myself to communicate with my doctor,” they say.
I had already been self-diagnosed as autistic for a year before my diagnosis.
What my doctor provided was the way other people saw me.
Interestingly this was found to be even more pronounced amongst females than males.
In short, the earlier an autistic individual received a diagnosis, the better their quality of life."
Gray continues, “There were a number of reasons some individuals werent diagnosed at an early age.
“Getting this diagnosis at any age was beneficial, but the earlier this was, the better.
It can be a real lightbulb moment and a great relief for many.”
There is often a shared “language” and understanding among autistic folks.
“Autism is not something to be corrected,” she says.
O’Connor explains, “There is still a lot of misdiagnoses that happen.
Autistic people who don’t resemble a particular stereotype might instead get diagnosed with something like anxiety or depression.
And that’s the ultimate goal.”
2015;19(7).
2020;24(6).
