It's a Whole New World

I was diagnosed two years ago at age 63. It has changed my life because I now have the insight on why stuff happened the way it did.

I would love to have a formal diagnosis because I think it would bring a sense of closure, but it doesn't seem to be in the cards for now. There are other, more urgent claims on my finances. Even with insurance.

About the younger member of your family, be prepared to face continued denial, denial, denial. Be prepared to hear that your diagnosis has made you even less credible than before. If your family is like mine which places a high premium on "normality", you will have an uphill battle to fight. Which I suspect you already know. The sad thing is you may not be able to do much to help this child while he is a minor. But if you can keep contact with him until he is of age, then you might have a better chance of doing something for him when he is an adult. Until then, you might have to back off a bit on pushing for testing depending on the resistance you encounter, because you might risk losing him. Unfortunately children do not have many rights and are pretty much at the mercy of their parents or guardians. So you are in a delicate situation.

Thank you, Spinning Compass. I am a great-aunt of the child. Unfortunately, one of his other great aunts was less than tactful when approaching the subject with the parents. That was 4 years ago. I have always had a good relationship with the father (my nephew). I have been in touch with him by phone both before and after my Dx. My doctor recommended the book "Living Well on the Spectrum" by Valerie Gaus for them. I have sent mom and dad a copy and plan now to back away from the topic and leave them to it. Thank you so much for responding. I think I've done what I can and will settle for that. Warm regards,

Good luck with your diagnosis! Hope all goes well and you get some answers and closure.

I am going for some career counseling/evaluation in a couple of weeks. I am graduating from college today (finally!) and while I have a good job where I am reasonably happy, school has awakened some nagging feelings in me that maybe this isn't where I really shine. So we are going to explore some options.

Big Time Congratulations on your graduation!!! Well done! I hope your counseling goes well and will anxiously await news of same.

Hello Aspie, I too was self-diagnosed and I had to live a whole lifetime with this problem. As a child I was ostracized and set apart by my peers as I could not understand childhood games, I could not remember one child after I had met them. I did not understand social interactions and always said and did the wrong thing.
However, I have struggled through, but like you, it would have been great if my parent had understood this. Back in those days we were just classed as slow learners or some other mental label.
My kids are still coming to terms with this diagnosis, and I am still picked on by friends who cannot understand Aspergers.
It does not stop what we do, and we are wonderfully clever, ha ha