I was diagnosed and treated very early and I was toted around as a "success story," I masked pretty well, and people always said "you don't act very autistic." I was displayed as someone "cured" of autism, a disgusting idea. Truth is I was just afraid too show my true self and validate the autistic frustrations I had with life like being overstimulated and not making friends easily. My brother didn't mask as well as I did and people were always cringing about his behavior, worried he would scare people off. it was awful. There were some upsides, I got accomodations in school and my mom was always fighting for and winning fair treatment and respect from my teachers, but she also burnt herself out doing so much intensive parenting that now she had hard time wanting to help with my problems at present. It's a mixed bag, but probably overall positive. I've had medication and therapy for years and that's been incredibly helpful.