Thread by @marinamaral2

I was diagnosed a few months ago.

At 25.

I started seeing psychologists and psychiatrists when I was 3 years old and received all different types of diagnosis, except autism - although now I see that it was VERY obvious.

https://twitter.com/cali_peachz/status/1318248065384394753

We (women) are underdiagnosed, especially because when we express our autistic traits, people don't see them as autistic traits. They see us as shy, rude, antisocial...

And doctors (people), in general, are NOT prepared to deal with autism, much less to diagnose.

The part of my story that pisses me off the most is the fact that I had to go through SO MUCH, including taking some pills that nearly destroyed my life because they obviously were not targeting the right problem.

And I'm not even mentioning my school. A school that loves to brag about students' grades, but where teachers used to lock me up in an empty classroom because they couldn't understand my behavior.

I am not an exception. Things like that still happen every day.

They loved using my grades to brag about how good the teachers were, though. That's when my behavior was convenient.

Did I mention that I received a message from a teacher a few weeks ago when she saw one of my interviews where I talk about the diagnosis, and she was saying how much my teachers were trying to understand what was going on with me back then

IMAGINE IF THEY WEREN'T

She said that they always knew that I "had something special"

Hahahahahaaha

GUYS

It is not always the teacher's fault, though. Schools AND society simply don't know and have no interest in learning to deal with people like us.

I was horrible, awful, a total failure when I had to deal with numbers. But I could do a history test and get the highest score without even trying too hard.

Guess why

And guess what they were keen to focus on? my failure or my success?

I grew up thinking horrible things about myself. That I was stupid (even when everyone was saying otherwise, and even though my grades in specific areas were very impressive), lazy...

When in fact, it was just the school being totally inefficient

Just because difficulties are invisible to you does not mean that they do not exist.

I, for some very crazy reason, managed to get to a place of privilege - professionally speaking. But it was DEFINITELY not easy.

And how many children will not have the same chance because they will not find the right people to help and support them?

Suicide rates among autistics are pretty high.

I was not expecting to write a thread on this, but well... lol

And yes, I was diagnosed with something called twice-exceptional (people who are "gifted" but also have a special need or disability - autism), which is not the case of every autistic you'll find, but that doesn't mean that I did not have to go through shit (and still have to).

And please don't ask me to "be well", because "everything will be okay". Everything IS okay! The diagnosis only made me a stronger woman (for real) and gave me the opportunity to live a better life.

My diagnosis also made me realize how much I was (still am) ignorant when it comes to issues related to accessibility, neurodiversity, etc... I never "had any reason" to stop and really think about these things, until it happened to me.

bbc.com/news/health-37…