Autism & me

About 15 years ago I remember reading about the Japanese non-verbal autistic boy who wrote a book. One of the comments said autistic people live in their heads and I thought that sounds like me. Another quote that really resonated with me "I wrote this story in the hope that it will help you to understand how painful it is when you can't express yourself to the people you love."

At the time I couldn't find any additional information especially about adults and autism and I didn't pursue it further. But it kept coming up and finally about 10 years ago I took a number of online tests designed specifically for diagnosing autistic adults and they all indicated I am most likely autistic. So my autistic self diagnosis is about 10 years old.

Although I'm not non-verbal I have wondered if I might have selective mutism. I often have difficulty expressing myself especially when I'm stressed or trying to communicate with people I find difficult. I feel like my thoughts and words are flying around inside my head. The best I can do is try to write down what I'm trying to say but even then it can take me some time.

I currently interact with autistic people online on Twitter as well as two forums https://www.autismforums.com/ and https://wrongplanet.net/ but most of those people are located in the US or UK. Both of those countries seems to be far ahead of Canada in their autistic support and understanding. So at this point, I'd really like to connect with my peers on Prince Edward Island and see how we could help and support each other.

For me, I'd like to connect with my peers. I've had relationships with neurotypical people all my life and something was always lacking. I have difficulty communicating with people and that difficulty is compounded by stress or anxiety. Additionally I've had difficulty maintaining relationships, so I 'lose' people once I change jobs or move.

So that's my story or some of it. But as we all know "If you've met one autistic person...you've met one autistic person."

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