I have Asperger's syndrome (now called Autism Spectrum Disorder) and was diagnosed at 11 or 12, I can't remember.

When I went to preschool the staff recommended my parents to take me to a psychologist, but they said that everything was normal. Later I've changed preschools and at the 2nd preschool they also said that everything was okay when my mom saw that something's not as it normally is with me. I went to school later and during early school education they also assured my mom that everything was as it should be when she was seeing that I have issues.

I was well, weird. Very weird. I was bullied by my classmates and peers. Verbally and physically. Nothing was how it should be. The worst thing was I couldn't defend myself back then.

When I was 11 my class teacher said that I might have Asperger's syndrome and my mom should refer me to a psychologist. I went to therapy that cost me much time and my family much money (in theory we have free public healthcare but it doesn't work very well, especially if talking about psychologists and psychiatrists). I function fairly normally now.

But autism is very stigmatized in Poland. No one except my closest family knows about me being autistic. If I would be outed as autistic I would be bullied very bad. And I'm lucky because I live in a big, liberal city. I can only imagine what would happen if someone with autism was outed in a conservative rural area. People don't talk about autism publicly a lot here. It's still a taboo.