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I wasn’t diagnosed until I was 30.

welcome to af.webp
 
You are not alone. Many here were diagnosed or self diagnosed late in life, such as 30's, 40s, 50s, and even 60s and beyond. One of the reasons was ASD-1 was not widely known when the older generations were young.
 
Duna said:
Do your postings have to be so big and full of pictures just to say "hello"?
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You do realize that I am a site administrator here, correct?

To answer your question, yes, the greeting is an image I created just to look official.
The links are there for the new member so they don't have to look for them.
The Harley-Davidson image is my signature on all of my posts.
 
Like @Tom said...
And statistically you have more than half of your life ahead. Having a diagnosis might be the starting point for change and learning how to better manage your problems and live a full and happy life.
Wish you the very best!
 
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Hi and welcome. It's good that you are here. I hope you will join in discussions and feel better with others here to discuss the issues that you have found challenging.
 
Nitro said:
You do realize that I am a site administrator here, correct?
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So what?
Nitro said:
To answer your question, yes, the greeting is an image I created just to look official.
The links are there for the new member so they don't have to look for them.
The Harley-Davidson image is my signature on all of my posts.
Click to expand...
The welcome banner is okay, @tree also uses one.
And the rules make sense.
But your signature image is way too big with lots of white space around, so things become hard to read. Like when you write a single word or sentence it kind of gets lost. Noticed this on some other of your posts.

Would make a suggestion, but this thread is about something else, so I restrain myself.
 
@Duna you probably haven't realised your posts to @Nitro sound a bit blunt, especially bearing in mind what you are saying is your own opinion on what he chooses to do. Maybe it would be better to politely message someone if you want to give an opinion on their presentation of their posts?
 
DevilMayAsian said:
My 20’s were hands down the worst decade of my life. Even though it did get better once they ended.
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It seems like there is a steep and painful learning curve to getting along in the world with autism. The good news is that everything you learn makes your life a little easier later.

Some of the "it gets easier" comes from learning the rules that everyone else seems to be born knowing. I'm in my 50s and I feel like I have spent my entire life studying and analyzing the rules of society. There are still a lot of situations where I put my foot in my mouth (I tell people I'm a master of the oral pedicure), but I feel like I do okay overall.

Some of the "it gets easier" comes from managing your circumstances and doing what you can to keep them within the bounds of what you can handle. As you spend more time paying attention to how you deal with different circumstances, you'll get better at choosing and managing situations and commitments ahead of time.

And some of the "it gets easier" comes from becoming more comfortable with who you are. For me, this didn't start until I got diagnosed with autism and went through a phase of accepting and internalizing it. It has helped me tremendously - I'm more aware of my own abilities and limitations,. I no longer feel the need to try to function like everyone else - I try to find what works for me, and what doesn't. With that, I'm less afraid to set boundaries.

I'm sorry your 20s were hard - I bet there's a hundred members of this forum that have felt exactly what you have. I'm glad things are getting better and I know you can keep that trend going.
 
Hello and welcome.
I was diagnosed at 54, and blundered my way though life, school was a nightmare.
Work was also difficult.
 
DevilMayAsian said:
My 20’s were hands down the worst decade of my life. Even though it did get better once they ended.
Click to expand...
I'm in a somewhat similar position to you. My twenties were all about...struggle and learning. I'll say with confidence that the past two years particularly have been the happiest for me.
 
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