Member-only story
Welcome to the Spectrum!
My journey of self-discovery via a late autism diagnosis
In the Beginning
I have spent my entire life feeling different from everyone around me. I never understood why, and I’m not sure I can find the proper words to explain how I knew, but my experience of the world was not like that of my peers. I was always known as “the quiet kid” and “the shy kid,” but I think what people really meant by those labels was “she doesn’t have many friends, and she doesn’t talk much.”
Well, what is wrong with that?
I was most content when I was by myself. I spent much of my free time in my head, using my imagination to entertain myself. I became an avid reader of any book I could get my hands on (I still have a passionate love of books today.) That’s not to say I didn’t have friends or enjoy interacting with my peers. But I was never one to be a part of a large friend group. I had my best friend and one or two other people I would occasionally hang out with outside of school hours.
Apparently, this is not what society deems acceptable. I always felt weird for not wanting to be more social — like something was wrong with me because I didn’t crave the social norms everyone else deemed so necessary. Of course, it didn’t help that I was diagnosed with scoliosis at age 12…
