Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Are YOU A Late Adult Autism Diagnosis_ (What To Do Next)

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Are YOU A Late Adult Autism Diagnosis_ (What To Do Next) · Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD

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  Hey, in this video I'm breaking down what to do after you have a
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  late diagnosis of autism. All that's coming up.
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  Hey guys, welcome back to the aspy world.
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  My name is Dan. I have autism, ADHD, OCD, and
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  dyslexia, and I make weekly videos about this type of
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  content. So if you're new around here,
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  you stumbled across this video and you want to learn more,
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  consider hitting that subscribe button by clicking the
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  notification bell so you know when I upload videos.
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  Also, if you're watching on Facebook, be sure to hit that
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  like and follow button. See Daily videos on this
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  channel. In this video, I'm breaking down
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  three of the most effective things to do after you have an
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  autism diagnosis later on in life.
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  But probably no one's ever spoken to you about.
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  OK, guys, it's been a hot minute.
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  Oh, it's good to see everybody back here watching one of my
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  videos again. You guys are amazing.
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  And I have a lot of questions about this hat.
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  I actually made this hat myself. But this is a trial version of
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  some merch I've got coming out. So if you want to keep in touch
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  with me about this, go over to my Instagram and Twitter and hit
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  me up. Give me a follow on Instagram
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  available. And also, I do videos on
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  Instagram and Twitter. So yeah, make sure you do that.
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  OK, guys, I I would like to know, are you a person who had a
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  late diagnosis of autism or are you looking for somebody else?
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  Please pop it in a comment down below.
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  I read and respond to every single comment, so please do
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  that right now. Also, this video can help
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  somebody. Why don't you tag them in the
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  comment section of wherever you're watching This video is on
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  Facebook or YouTube or whatever, because that would really help
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  me reach them and maybe we can help them out as well.
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  OK, so I was diagnosed with autism later on in life, and I
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  mean later on in life and not like the latest.
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  I mean I'm not in my 70s or 80s, but I mean like when I was a kid
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  I had some, you know, diagnosis and issues of things that were
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  you know, issues in my life. My parents took me to different
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  doctors and stuff but they couldn't really diagnose me back
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  then because the experts and the expertise needed to diagnose
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  somebody on the autism spectrum back in like the late 80s, early
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  90s was kind of well just non existent where I lived in in
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  Wales. And so because of that they were
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  able to not do it. So I just had to go through
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  school and all those things and kind of like struggle a bit.
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  But when I got to my 20s, eventually I went to to down the
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  process, got to the right doctors and I got diagnosis of
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  Asperger syndrome and ADHD and OCD kind of like a comorbid now.
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  And comorbid means like to get it Co curing altogether at once.
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  And so that was kind of like an eye opener for me.
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  And I remember thinking as soon as I got my diagnosis, I was
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  like, Oh my goodness, you know, what do I do now?
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  How do I, where do I go from here?
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  What do I do? I don't know anything about
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  autism. I mean the closest I've got to
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  knowing anything about autism was watching Rain Man with Tom
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  Cruise. And I was like, well, you know,
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  that's not even autism, not savant syndrome.
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  So I was completely in the dark about it.
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  And then I didn't know how to, you know, what do I do socially?
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  You know, like, you know, do I walk around like a badge saying,
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  hey, like, I have an awesome special condition.
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  I've just been diagnosed with autism.
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  Do iPhone my friends up and tell them, like, you know, what do
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  you do? You know, it was very difficult.
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  And it's like, so the first thing I do when I got home and I
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  went and I told my everyone in my house, my parents, because
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  living at home with my parents at the time.
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  And then I told my brother and my brother said, yeah, that's
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  obvious. And he was like, he said that I
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  reminded him Sheldon Cooper from The Big Bang Theory, which is
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  funny because I was doing a degree in chemistry at the time.
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  And so there was a a bunch of things that happened after that.
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  And I feel like it's valuable that I share this information
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  with you because, like, you'll get more from that, you know
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  what I mean? So I'm going to go through like
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  three of the things that I think are a top priority to do after
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  you have an autism diagnosis later on in life.
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  And The thing is, it's going to be, you know, used even if you
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  have a kid who's on the spectrum, and then they get
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  diagnosed and you know what to do next.
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  You know, it can be applied to anybody.
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  But specifically, I wanted to do this for people who've had a
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  late diagnosis, but it is compatible.
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  Don't. Don't worry.
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  All right, let's get on. OK.
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  So number one is outreach. Now you thinking done.
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  What does outreach mean? Basically, there are different
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  places all over the world that will have autism support groups,
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  autism kind of charities, autism social gathering, social clubs,
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  events, talks, lectures, get group meetings.
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  There's a bunch of things that are happening.
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  And what you need to do is reach out to these immediately.
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  I didn't reach out to these immediately and I wish I did
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  because when I did eventually reach out to them and then I
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  went to meetings and stuff like that and I went to like lectures
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  and things, it was just amazing. You pay like a couple of you
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  know, dollars or a couple of pounds to to attend the meetings
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  and then you kind of get to enjoy other activities.
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  Now the beauty of this is that it opens you up to support in
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  your local areas that you would never even thought about before.
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  And the support is almost like you feel a relationship with
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  those people because they have the similar traits and similar
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  conditions to you. So you can kind of like you
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  understand each other way more and then you feel less alone,
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  less isolated. That was like one of the first
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  things when I got diagnosed, I felt isolated.
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  I felt like, you know, I'm, I'm doing this alone.
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  Nobody's going to get me, you know.
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  You know what I mean? It's kind of like an unusual
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  feeling because you feel like that's it, you know, is it just
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  me doing this all my own? So I, I kind of reached out and
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  I and I joined in Asbridge's social club group people and it
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  was amazing. It was it was probably one of
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  the best things ever. When we did, we went to
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  different meetings all over, you know, by local area and went to
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  different talks. We saw people from like just
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  amazing people talking and it was so good, right.
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  So I highly recommend doing that for a few things.
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  Just go to Google, type in like local autism or Asperger support
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  groups, and then type in like local support groups for mental
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  health and autism and you'll find a list of different things,
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  right, Especially on Facebook. Facebook is probably one of the
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  best ones to go to. I would highly recommend going
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  to Facebook, typing this in and see what happens.
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  OK, so #2, therapy. Now people can get kind of super
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  scared when you hear the word therapy.
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  Like, Oh my goodness, you know, therapy.
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  Like marriage therapy. It's like this thing.
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  Like, you mean like, you know if you're going to therapy, you're
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  admitting the feet. And it's not like that.
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  Not at all. So therapy you've got to think
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  about in a way, as you know, if you want to relax and you want
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  to go to a beauty therapist, you go there and you have relaxation
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  therapy or you go someone have beauty therapy or you go to a
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  gym for body therapy, right. Therapy isn't a bad thing.
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  It's just the way that people look at it in terms of like
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  mental health and neurological conditions.
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  They feel it's like a scary thing, but it's not the first
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  thing I would have done back then, which I did eventually do.
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  I would look for therapists in my local community on my local
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  health board. I'd contact my health board and
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  ask them if I can have access or referrals to therapists to help
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  me. Because regardless of when you
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  were diagnosed, you will always have had issues and other, you
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  know, ups and downs in your life that you know you'll need help
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  and support with. And a therapist can help you
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  with that. So therapy from autism, you can
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  have psychological intervention, You can have like counselling.
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  There's also kind of behavioral therapies.
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  Some people are on the fence about it.
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  Some people don't like it. Some people do like it.
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  It's all down to personal preference and of course, which
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  type of therapy that you want to to kind of use.
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  But there are a bunch of different ones out there.
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  I did actually do a video on autism therapies and I will
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  leave a link for that in the card above here and I'll try and
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  link it in the description below so you can see that.
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  And I'll put it also on the end card so that you don't miss it.
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  But in terms of autism therapies, there are a bunch of
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  different ones around then I'll, I'll you know, leave that video
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  to explain it because I did a video all about those therapies.
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  But I think that by by hitting the ground running, you know,
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  looking for support, looking for therapy, looking for a
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  camaraderie from like groups and stuff like that, you are
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  becoming like it's a problem shared, a problem halved
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  basically. And that's the kind of whole
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  idea and the consensus with this kind of information that I'm
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  giving you right now. Because if you don't want to
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  feel alone, you don't feel isolated and you don't feel like
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  you're the only person going through any of this stuff and
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  that you you topple. Because it's not.
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  It's not the case. Not the case at all.
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  I'm here. I got you.
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  Yeah. OK.
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  So #3 is be open. Like, damn.
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  What are you talking about? How can I how can I?
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  You mean be open? What does that mean?
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  I'm saying to be open and honest with friends and family.
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  So when, you know, when I was diagnosed, one of the things I
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  kind of, I don't know, I didn't do it straight away, which I
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  wish I did do. It is that, like my friends,
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  they would say do this, do this, and then I wouldn't want to do
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  that. And we get into arguments about
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  stuff because I didn't want to do those things because I'd feel
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  uncomfortable going somewhere with my extreme social anxiety
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  and stuff like that. And then they just think that I
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  was just being a lazy, you know, idiot and they just thought I
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  didn't want to do those things because I was just being
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  miserable. Well, you know, if I just said
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  some at the time or guys, look, I'm actually on the spectrum and
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  I need you to disrespect the fact that, like, this is
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  uncomfortable for me. And then it would have been so
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  much more understanding. So it's kind of like my own
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  fault. I didn't tell them right.
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  And with same with family members, not everybody in the
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  family is just going to automatically know that you're
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  only autism spectrum. Like why would they, you know,
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  you have to go out there and tell them.
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  So I would just make it a priority to tell the people that
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  are closest to you that you have this diagnosis and then kind of
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  mention it when you see everyone else in passing like oh hey, by
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  the way I've got a diagnosis of blah, blah blah.
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  And, you know, so because we someone who's on the spectrum
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  will obviously be a certain characteristics of behavior and
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  their family members will see that and then they will, they'll
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  understand that like, oh, there's Dan, you know, he's an
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  interesting guy. There's all this stuff and you
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  know, he's got quirks and whatever.
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  But when you say, like, I've got autism, they go, oh, OK that
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  makes sense, you know, So it's kind of like they they don't,
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  they don't expect you to be kind of like to phone up, like,
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  hello, I have a diagnosis. But if it's in passing, like,
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  oh, yeah, look, well, you know, my quirks.
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  Well, it turns out I'm on the auto inspection, blah, blah,
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  blah. And then I'll probably have way
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  more respect for you being completely open and honest and
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  approachable. Imagine it.
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  Imagine, you know, if they want to ask questions about it, if
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  they want to ask how to help accommodate you, how to best
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  support you. So say you're going to stay in
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  your, you know, your friend's house or your family on this
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  house and they don't live near you and you go somewhere they
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  could then ask you, hey, how do I best accommodate you?
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  So I went to stay in my cousin's house in Portsmouth.
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  I'm actually, that's my family's from Portsmouth, but I live in
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  Wales. And so we went to Portsmouth and
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  they stayed with them. And you know, one of the things
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  they said, oh, you know what you want to eat, you know, we'll get
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  anything. And then I said the stuff I
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  wanted to eat. And then they kind of they made
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  a good thing about it. They all went out and they
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  bought loads of the stuff that I like to eat.
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  And we all had like big dinner as a family with the stuff I
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  like to eat. And I kind of thought that was
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  super awesome and it was so nice for them to do that.
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  You know, they didn't have to, but they did now.
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  Super, super awesome. If you think that these three
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  tips can help us, somebody who's just been diagnosed or somebody
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  who's about to be diagnosed, please share this on their
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  Facebook page because that would be amazing.
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  And also you can tweet this out as somebody because it'd be
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  amazing. Or you can just tag them in the
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  post below this if you're watching on Instagram.
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  So without further ado, guys, I will see you in the next video.
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  Peace.