This is my autism diagnosis story. Thank you for watching! I'm still figuring out this filming thing, so hopefully the quality should improve in time.

IMPORTANT INFO AND RESOURCES

For the sake of maintaining a relatively brief video, I could not go into as much detail on certain topics as I would’ve liked. I’m including some additional information as well as links to resources to explore if you are interested in anything I discussed.

Resources on getting a diagnosis:

https://www.autismempowerment.org/und...

https://autismawarenesscentre.com/am-...

https://www.aane.org/resources/adults...

***One thing I didn’t mention that I may likely make a separate video about is how uniquely challenging getting properly diagnosed as a female can be. The ASD diagnostic criteria was designed particularly with boys in mind and because of this, many women go undiagnosed or misdiagnosed for a very long time, even though the prevalence of women on spectrum is suspected to be significantly higher than previously thought. This is due to many reasons, some of which you can read about in the following articles and resources.

Diagnosis/General resources for women:

https://childmind.org/article/autisti...

https://researchautism.org/the-autism...

https://www.autismawareness.com.au/co...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

Masking is a survival strategy that allows the neurodiverse to better navigate a neurotypical world and is often a trauma response. While all genders can mask, women tend to mask at higher rates than men and can be more susceptible to the consequences this has. I will hopefully be making a video on this in the future because of how immensely it’s impacted my life. Nonetheless, here are some resources for now if you’re eager to learn more:

https://opendoorstherapy.com/autism-a...

https://www.tiimoapp.com/blog/art-of-...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.108...

Getting a diagnosis can typically be incredibly costly and difficult for a variety of other reasons. Because of this, some people have to rely on self-diagnosis. Here are some resources if you are self-diagnosed or are interested in self-diagnosis:

https://depts.washington.edu/uwautism...

https://the-art-of-autism.com/what-it...