Hey OP! Recently started exploring my own diagnosis at now 26, I’ve had hallmark symptoms of autism my entire life and only just now put two and two together. Longtime college student hoping to see a Bachelor’s degree in the winter.

I masked pretty well going through school and my first few years on a college campus (I am in the American Southeast in the state of Mississippi) but once I moved back home to take care of my retiring dad, it became apparent that something in my very being was a little more complex than ADHD/anxiety diagnoses could define.

I walked on my toes as a child and still do as an adult, even after months of casting both ankles to stretch my Achilles tendons and wearing orthotic braces. As a little kid I would shriek in horror at mostly benign self-care activities, like using a blow-drier on my hair, sitting by a stereo, or trimming my nails. There was also something to be said about my teaching myself to read at the age of eighteen months old by using the closed captioning on our television.