It fixed my mental health and helped me begin to recover.

Throughout my whole life I had thought that I had some form of brain injury or screw up, or maybe I was just being lazy. I couldn’t write properly, I was weird. I was an outcast. I tried to be normal which I hated and even then it failed. Even my demeanor I couldn’t change. Eventually as a teen I went into a really dark place, and ended up getting a psychiatric nurse.

He suggested to me that I might have autism and referred me for an assessment, I waited three years for it, but I got diagnosed. It’s like everything made sense now, and it gave me permission to be myself. Anyone who had an issue with that was being ableist, as long as I don’t intentionally try to annoy or harm anybody, or make people uncomfortable. I’m allowed to like what I like and not do what I don’t want to do.

I still think I have issues from growing up with undiagnosed issues, mainly related to confidence and self esteem.