Who here is parenting an ND child?
Has finding out their diagnosis also led to you or their other parent to a late diagnosis?
Any resources you’d like to share with the community?
Who here is parenting an ND child?
Has finding out their diagnosis also led to you or their other parent to a late diagnosis?
Any resources you’d like to share with the community?
@Zumbador @TechyDad @neamhsplach A lot of it may boil down to this:
Was #ActuallyAutistic a label chosen *by* you, as a result of accurate and compassionately-communicated information?
Or was it chosen *for* you, by people who were more interested in trying to “solve the problem” that is you, and are ultimately not motivated by acting for your own well-being?
(I spent most of my life in the second camp, and even on the best days, the term “autistic” is emotionally fraught for me.)
@dpnash
Very true. And definitely something late realised autistic people are often not aware of.
But I meant to ask a different question, which is why people in the first group (realising they’re autistic vs having been diagnosed by someone else ) sometimes have such different experiences.
@TechyDad @neamhsplach
In my case, my short term trauma was because my sense of self was shattered. I had explanations for why I did a lot of things and suddenly those explanations were replaced by other explanations. My entire view of who I was was thrown into question.
This might not be that traumatic when you’re a child - you’re still discovering who you are then. However, when you’re in your 30’s, your sense of who you are is usually set. To have that demolished was hard to deal with, even if it was beneficial in the long term.