Surprise! It's Autism | Woodshed Theory

That color looks lovely on you! ❤

i believe i'm on the spectrum (i'm 37) but i'm deciding if i want to pursue an official diagnosis. it feels exhausting. but the two people i told about it, my brother and husband, immediately said, no you're not, as if they know me better than myself, and it really pissed me off.

I recently came to know I was on the spectrum myself, at 53 years. It is nice to see someone who understands the joy of having hope for the future about this, how being able to point at it helps deal with it. Attached find a poem I wrote about that which I am sure you will understand.

I love your authenticity!

You’re right that getting a diagnosis is emotionally draining and psychologically difficult. I went through it for almost a year but for a different neurodivergent diagnosis, though they didn’t mentioned autism. My therapist was the one who found a child psychologist who did an autism assessment for one adult. I was the second autistic adult. It was pretty quick than the other doctors who didn’t believe that i could be neurodivergent. All i did was watched one vid of how to adhd youtube channel a year ago but then later i’m actually on the spectrum. It’s frustrating on how no one sees it in all of my 28 years. I’ve always been a quiet and “shy” person. I always have anxiety about literally anything, especially the social aspects. It’s still kinda bittersweet. I’m trying to accept the part of myself that have been always there my whole life and I didn’t know..

The end was my favorite part!

Claire, this is beautiful and powerful. Thank you for sharing this!

Loved the end part too I'm 49 and on the spectrum

I saw that same video!!! A Ted Talk. And it is almost a twin of my youngest daughter. ❤️

i never had autism on my radar. i always felt different, even as a person with spina bifida/hydrozephalus. then I came across a video on Youtube ...

I did grow a beard look first time in my life and it's great for stimming, I stroke it and my wife says it makes me look old, handsome and wise! I do still love her because two out of three aint bad lol

You are describing almost exactly my lived experience 😅 except I thought "oh how funny that I share all these traits with Autistics and I am not! Wait... Am I? So funny I scored so high on that self exam....hmm..."

I happen to know a thing or two about growing a beard so..... The weirdest thing to me is there are no resources for us who have been diagnosed later in life. My insurance did cover it luckily because I had to go find a therapist as well. The first guy I went to shouldn't have his license if you ask me. I walked in and he didn't want to evaluate me at all, as an autistic person I've studied body language my entire life and this guy was un-interested. He started with why do you want a diagnoses? You live by yourself you have worked you seen to be fine. In addition to him explaining that there aren't any resources anyway so why bother. Then he asked me to get on a scale so I walked out.(the guy had a belly himself so I answered with I will if you do it first lol). I had to search around but I did find a therapist who was wiling to diagnose me even though she doesn't believe in labels herself. I got my diagnoses last year at age 47, it has helped me figure.out why I can only manage two work for a few months to at most a few years(with a lot of sick leave) at a time. A lot of other stuff became clear as well it has given some peace. Which I am grateful for. The hardest thing some one does in live is asking for help once you are over that step it becomes easier. Thanks for coming to my TED talk have a goodnight.

Claire can you remember the video that you saw that confirmed to you that you may be on the spectrum? If so please link it.

Ok, I see how that makes sense. The human brain of a female is fully functional at age 26. Because autism is seen as a developmental condition, the cognitive analysis will only go up to age 23.

Hi I found your channel via lana rhiannon's comment section. I was wondering if you would be comfortable sharing the (ballpark) cost of your diagnosis. I am a few years older than you and that's probably what's in the cards for me, too. If not I completely understand, as money is a sensitive topic to many, no hard feelings :)