#Thread

Twelve things about discovering you’re autistic when you’re over 50.

#1 Most of us have more life behind us than ahead of us. We may feel a deep sense of sadness about our ‘lost’ years. Or we may not.

#autism
#autistic
#AllAutistics
#AutisticElders
#LateDiagnosis

1/

#2 We weren’t recognised as autistic earlier in life so it may not be obvious from the outside. Others may doubt us.

We may doubt ourselves, because we don’t fit the usual autism stereotypes. Or we may feel at one with our autistic identity right from the start.

2/

#3 We may experience an existential crisis when we realise we’re not who we thought we were.

Or we may feel a huge sense of relief at discovering our self is more real than we ever knew.

3/

#4 We’ve often been quite badly treated along the way, and we may have been punished for not fitting in with other people’s expectations.

It can be a huge relief to discover it wasn’t actually our fault. But it can also be distressing to realise how misunderstood we were.

4/

#5 We may be traumatised by what happened before we discovered we were autistic.

Some of us will have been repeatedly bullied, exploited or abused, leaving deep scars.

We may feel guilt about some of the things we said and did.

5/

#6 We may have had poor medical, mental health and dental care treatment as a result of our differences being misunderstood.

Relationships with health care providers may be strained due to years of misunderstandings.

We may be engaged with services or estranged from them.

6/

#7 We may feel a new zest for life now that we know who we really are. Or we may experience despair because we can’t reclaim the life we’ve already lived.

We may want to revisit and reconcile ourselves with the past, or we may want to move on, without looking back.

7/

#8 We may be in a good place when we discover that we’re autistic, without any major crises going on in our lives.

Or we may only have discovered we’re autistic because everything came crashing down, and we found ourselves at the end of the road.

It makes a big difference.

8/

#9 We may not use the preferred language, or understand the difference between neurodiversity and neurodivergence, but please be gentle with us.

We spent most of our lives not even realising we were autistic. Now that we know, there’s a lot to come to terms with.

9/

#10 We may have secure housing, employment, relationships, financial and social capital when we discover that we are autistic.

Or we may not.

The circumstances we’re in make a huge difference to outcomes. Some of us are contending with hunger, fuel poverty, homelessness.

10/

#11 As older autistic people we face prejudice because of ageism as well as autism.

We may experience additional discrimination, disadvantage and exclusion as a result of physical disability, sensory impairment, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, religion, or social class.

11/

#12 Some of us will have enough to cope with simply managing our own situation day to day, struggling to survive.

Others will become advocates for autistic people. We need to guard against those with more privilege dominating the discussion.
I include myself in this.

12/ End