My Autistic statementYes I have been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum. Unfortunately it has come rather late in life as I was approaching sixty at that time. The last seven years, as well as trying to cope with everyday life, has been spent looking at how autism has affected my life. This has helped me realise why I have stress related issues.
While I am able to socialise to some degree it appears that I can’t work with or for people. It seems that my problem is with my need to do things correctly. By this I mean the way other people want me to do it and if I don’t get it right I suffer. They can say it’s okay but I “know” it’s wrong. Because of this I will slow my pace of work down so that I can get things right. However, I will then be told I need to speed up! Result? More mistakes and the start of a downward spiral.
Fortunately, I have now retired so I no longer have to worry so much, I just have to “work” with my family. I still end up with the occasional issue but, for a change, the problem is short lived and I can carry on as normal. In many ways Autism has caused me problems as I’ve mentioned but the advantages of being able to see outside of the box and a fair degree of intelligence far outweigh the disadvantages!
Looking back I feel that I could have been diagnosed earlier as I had symptoms that felt severe to me, right up until my late teens but at the same time I feel that I would have lost out on a lot because of the lack of proper insight into the condition. As it is I have a pile of highers and O levels which I probably would have failed to get if I had been diagnosed earlier. As it is, it appears that correct support for autistics is still wanting but as time goes on the understanding and support will improve constantly!
All our best and love
Ross Fraser and Jeni Dern
Words – Gordon Sparling
Design App – Canva
Gordon Sparling We appreciate that it couldn't have been easy, thank you so much for sharing your story.
Today’s post is a community comment from Gordon Sparling.