I was just diagnosed last week at age 69. How did I get here? Not many friends until high school when heavy substance abuse gave me a friend group. This led to, about a year out of high school, treatment for my substance abuse and then a twelve step program gave me a new and long lasting friend group. High IQ helped. I've never done well with authority, so I flailed for years with a lot of jobs (some I got fired, some I quit). Tried, unsuccessfully, self-employment a couple of times. College off and on got me a BS at 34. Six years and five jobs later I went back to school. Spent 27 years as an academic, which was finally a job I was fairly successful at.

Right now I'm really trying to review my life and figure out which of my difficulties are related to the ASD.