Yes, me, 44. Not a full diagnosis but I always knew and the doctor didn’t disagree or saw any reason to look further. I’m curious about your experience here since it’s designed around my sensitivities.

Would you say it changes in any way how you see yourself or how you act? I've been constantly told I should get an evaluation due to certain... behaviours I exhibit apparently, but I've been wondering how relevant a positive diagnosis would really be.

No, doesn’t make a difference. Mostly helpful for communicating the situation but didn’t change how I act or how I see myself. Ymmv however, especially if you think it will then it might, but I doubt it.

In my case it was very useful. Since Covid-19, and fatherhood in general (I'm 45), I went thorough a series of burnouts, which were getting worse. The diagnosis gave me an answer to the question, "why can't I handle the pressure"? Being autistic, I tend to need good theoretical frameworks to make sense of my life. Thinks that I don't control or understand, are a source of anxiety. As a consequence, the diagnosis gave me the framework and helped me accept that my career path had do change.

Now, I still have the same problems as before, but now they don't blow out of proportion. When I don't feel well I tell myself, this is my autism, I need time alone, I need to recover, and thus I don't get the extra anxiety. Also, now I don't try to fight my limitations. So, nothing changes, but everything changes a little bit.

I also think this helped my family (wife, sisters, parents, ...) as they also understodd some of my behaviour.

I'm 55 and recently self-diagnosed as "fairly ASD with some ADHD" after watching a lot of youtube videos. It's been immensely helpful (to the point of bringing me to tears sometimes) in understanding the struggles I had when I was younger. It's also been very helpful in understanding what I can do currently to support myself and work with my brain instead of against it.

I'm glad it was useful to you. This process of becoming aware of our autism is not easy. It is liberating, but it is also difficult, at the same time. I watched a lot of videos too, but then I visited a couple psiquiatrists and a psycologist (I had other problems too), just to be sure. What is your opinion about the ASD youtube landscape? I think that there are a few very good channels, but there is lot of noise too. I see some danger there.

Those "10 signs you may be [or not be] autistic" seem quite dangerous to me. Neurodivergence can be tricky.

Yeah. I do like them sometimes, but the good authors are careful to start the video with looots of caveats (e.g. "this is not how to diagnose, just something that's maybe helpful").

Yeah I agree that there are many ASD channels on YT of varying qualities. I only follow a few. Some of my favorites (very roughly in order): I think for now being self diagnosed is enough for me. Just knowing that I'm neurodivergent has been helpful for me to be kind to my own mind.

Yes. It’s helped me understand more about how things affect me and why I respond to things in certain ways, which helps me manage situations and myself better. It’s given me a vocabulary to articulate experiences that I struggled to make sense of.