Adam's Story
All about me
Experience of autism
Not until I had my diagnosis , me and my parents didn’t think that I had autism. There was a professional who I was working with and recommended that I go for a test.
Just that I have autism. I don’t like the label that comes with other terms, it doesn’t define me as a person so that’s the term I’d lie to use. Other terms like autism spectrum disorder and autism spectrum condition don’t bother me but I’d still rather just say I have autism.
I felt very depressed when I was first diagnosed with autism. I didn’t really understand much about what it meant at the time. Once I understood more about it, I understood that I could still be successful with having autism. I looked at certain people who were famous and had autism lie Alan Turing and I realised that I could still be successful.
My family and friends were really supportive. My parents told me to keep it secret to begin with, my sister who was also in school was told to keep it secret as well to avoid me becoming a target of bullying. They’ve always been very understanding and patient with me. I told another one of my friends and she was very supportive at the time and has been since.
My diagnosis brought about a difficult time, but it was helpful because it helped me thin about some of the problems I’d had in school before and allowed me to realise why I’d acted in certain ways. Before my diagnosis, I was really confused about it.
Main (talking autism personally) they support people with autism and families to learn more about it and help them find other resources to help you however they can.
I now have a more positive view on it. I realised that I made a lot of misconceptions about autism before when I was first diagnosed but learning more has really helped.
Not really, they’ve always been supportive.
Top tips
Talking to people about it, having a fresh view can really help. Don’t feel like you need to bottle anything up and make sure you have a good support network.
Don’t feel like you have to mask anything, people will understand and be patient with you.
Don’t let it define who you are. Use your diagnosis to your advantage and see it as something positive, you now have an explanation for why you’ve struggled for so long. If you have people that can help, make sure you talk to them.