Thread by @sarahmei

Hello 👋 I am autistic.

HI AUTISTIC, I'M DAD

I suspect this will not be a surprise for folks who have worked or spent time with me💅

It was sort of a surprise to me though😬

I thought everyone had a super complex system of arbitrary rules that they had memorized, to help them navigate social situations

ahahaha nope that's just me apparently😬

Allistic (non-autistic) people "just know"

I love rule systems. My brain loves rule systems. There are many ways to be great at software development, and mine is rule systems.

I distinctly remember realizing, as a 6yo, that social interactions were governed by an immense invisible rule system. I started building mine.

I'm 46 years old - about 15 years too old to have been evaluated for autism in school. Even once screening was more common (late 80s, early 90s) autism was mostly looked at as a boy problem, soooo

between my gender and my internal rule set, I might have fooled a screener anyway

The way I realized I am autistic was to follow a bunch of #actuallyautistic people, both here and on Instagram. I followed them to learn about what I thought was another group different from me

Turns out, they are my people 💖❤️💗

I brought up whether I could be autistic with my longtime psychiatrist about a year ago.

He looked at me blankly, and said, "well, yes, of course."

So apparently I was the last to know. Anyway, here I am. I love you all <3