I am autistic. I self-diagnosed myself at the end of my 44th year, and received my official diagnosis from a Seattle based neuropsychologist when I was 45. These last years have been an unfolding of self awareness and self acceptance, a path that I have been on most of my adult life, but never expected it to manifest quite like this. But life is full of unexpected gifts, isn’t it.

Autism is a misunderstood neurological developmental condition (not disorder) that impacts behavior.  Very simply, someone diagnosed with autism has traits that show up as a way of communicating and behaving in the social world that look different than what most people are used to.

That’s all it is. It’s not about intellect, and it’s certainly not about empathy or lack thereof. It’s a neurological condition, a simple difference of brain activity, that causes me and other autistics to behave in ways that are different than neurotypical people.

When I first received my autism diagnosis I felt a lot of shame and I was scared to be public about it because what would people think, and how would they react? But I’m starting to realize that self acceptance is everything, and how can I accept myself fully if this is something that I am hiding? I mean, if anything this may help people understand my quirks, like why I look away when I am sharing, or why I love to infodump (which turns out is great for teaching).  And by sharing, I give myself permission to fully unmask, allowing myself to be my authentic autistic self. What a gift.  May we all accept ourselves exactly as we are. Thank you for taking the time to try to understand me.