hey in this video I'm breaking down what to do after you have a late diagnosis of
autism all that's coming up
hey guys welcome back to the Aspie World my name is Dan I have autism ADHD OCD and
dyslexia and do weekly videos about this type of contents of your new sound here and
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follow button see daily videos on this channel. In this video I'm breaking down
three of the most effective things to do after you have an autism diagnosis
later on in life but probably no one's ever spoken to you about okay guys it's
been a hot minute oh it's good to see everybody back here watching one of my
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know are you a person who had a late diagnosis of autism are you looking for
somebody else please pop it in a comment down below I read and respond to every
single comment so please do that right now
also if this video can help somebody why don't you tag them in the comment
section of wherever you're watching these videos on Facebook or YouTube or
whatever because that would really help me reach them and maybe you can help
them out as well okay so I was diagnosed with autism later on in life and I mean
later on in life and not like the latest I mean I'm marking my seventies or
eighties but I mean like when I was a kid I had some you know diagnosis and
issues of things that were you know issues in my life my parents took me to
different doctors and stuff but they couldn't really diagnose me back then
because the experts and expertise needed to diagnose somebody on the
autism spectrum back in like the late eighties early nineties was kind of well
just non-existent where I lived in in Wales and so because of that they were
able to not do it so I just had to go through school and all the things and
kind of like to struggle a bit but when I got to my 20s eventually I went to
down the process and go to the right doctors and I got a diagnosis of
Asperger's syndrome and ADHD and OCD kind of like a co-morbid now and Comorbid
would mean like together a co-occurring all together at once
and so that was kind of like an eye-opener for me and I remember
thinking as soon as I got my diagnosis I was like oh my goodness you know what do
I do now how do I where do I go from here what do i do I don't know anything
about autism I mean the closest I've got to know anything about autism was
watching Rain Man with Tom Cruise and I was like well you know that's not even
alter not savant syndrome so I was completely in the dark about it and then
I didn't know how to you know what do I do socially you know do I you know do I
walk around with a badge saying “hey like I have an Austin Spectrum Condition” “I've
just been diagnosed with autism” or do I phone my friends up in be like you
know what do you do you know it's very difficult and it's like so the first thing I
Did when I got home when I told my my everyone my house my parents cause
I was living at home with my parents at the time and then I saw my brother and my
brother said yeah that's obvious and he was like he said that I reminded him of
Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory which is funny because I was doing a
degree in chemistry at the time and so there was a bunch of things that
happened after that and I feel like it's valuable by share this information with
you because like you'll get more from that you know I mean so I'm gonna go
through like three of the things that I think are top priority to do after you
have an autism diagnosis later on in life and I think it's it's gonna be you
know used even if you have a kid who's on the spectrum and then they
get diagnosed and you know what to do next you know it's it can be apply to
anybody but specifically I wanted to do this for people who've had a late
diagnosis but it is compatible don't don't worry all right let's get on okay
so number one is outreach now you’re thinking Dan what does outreach mean
basically there are different places all over the world that will have autism
support groups autism kind of charities autism the social gathering social clubs
events talks lectures, group meetings there's a bunch of things are happening
and what you need to do is reach out to these immediately I didn't reach out to
these immediately and I wish I did because what I did eventually reach out
to them and then I went to meetings and stuff like that I went to like lectures
and things which is amazing you pay like a couple of you know
dollars or a couple of pounds to attend the meetings and then you kind of get to
enjoy other activities now the beauty of this is that it opens you up to support
in your local areas that you would never have even thought about before
and the support is almost like you feel like a relationship those people
because they have the similar traits and similar conditions to you so you can
kind of like you understand each other way more and then you feel less alone
less isolated that was like one of the first things when I got diagnosed I felt
isolated I felt like you know I'm doing this alone nobody's gonna get me you
know what I mean it's kind of like an unusual feeling because you feel like
that's it you know this is just me doing this on my own so I kind of reached out
and I joined in Asperges social club group people and it was amazing it was
probably one the best things that when we didn't do any different meetings all
over you know by local area I went to different talks we saw people from like
just amazing people talking and it was so good right so I highly recommend
doing that for a few things just go to Google type in like local autism or
asperger's support groups and then type in like local support groups for mental
health and autism and you'll find a list of different things right especially on
Facebook, Facebook's probably one of the best ones to go to I would highly
recommend go to Facebook typing this in and see what happens okay so number two
therapy now people can get kind of super scared when we hear the word
therapy like oh my goodness you know therapy like marriage therapy it's like
this thing that you mean like you know if you're going to therapy you're
Admiring defeat and it's not like that not at all so therapy you've got to
think about in the way as you know if you want to relax and you want to go to
a beauty therapist you go there and you have relaxation therapy or you go
somewhere to have beauty therapy or you go to a gym for body therapy right the
therapy isn't a bad thing it's just the way that people look at it in terms of
like mental health and neurological conditions they feel it's like a ooh
scary thing but it's not first thing I would have done back then which I did
eventually do it I would look for therapists in my local community on my
local health board I'd contact my health Board and ask them if I can have access or
referrals to therapists help me because regardless of when you were diagnosed
you will always have had issues and other you know ups and downs in your
life that you know you'll need help and support with and a therapist can help
you with that so therapy for autism you can have psychological intervention you
can have like counseling there's also kind of behavioral therapies you some
people are on the fence about some people don't like it some people do
like it it's all down to personal preference and of course which type of
therapy that you want to kind of use but there are a bunch of different ones out
there I did actually do a video on Autism and therapies and I will
leave a link for that in the card above here and I'll try and link it in the
description below so you can see that and I'll put it also on the end card so
that you don't miss it but in terms of autism therapies there are a bunch
of different ones around then I'll you know leave that video to explain in
a video all about those therapies but I think that by hitting the ground running
you know looking for support looking for therapy looking for camaraderie from
like groups and stuff like that you are becoming like it's a problem shared it
problem halved basically and that's the kind of whole idea and the consensus
with this kind of information that I'm giving you right now is you don't to
feel alone you don't feel isolated and you don't feel like you're the only
person going through any of this stuff and that you it's hopeless because I've
not that's not the case not like at all I'm here I got you okay so number three
is be open like Dan what are you talking about!? How can i how can i I mean
be open what does that mean I'm saying to be open and honest with friends and
family so when you know when I was diagnosed one of the things I I kind of
I don't know I didn't do a straightaway which I wish I did do is that like my
friends they would say do this do this and then I wouldn't want to do that and
we get into arguments about stuff because I didn't want to do those things
Because I feel uncomfortable going somewhere with my extreme social anxiety and stuff
like that and then they just think that I was just being a lazy you know idiot
and they just thought I didn't want to do those things because I've just been
miserable well you know if I had said to them at the time or guys look I'm actually on
the spectrum and I need you to just respect the fact that like this is
uncomfortable for me and then it would've been so much more understanding
so it's kind of like my own fault I didn't tell them right and with same
with family members not everybody in a family is just gonna automatically know
that you are on the autism spectrum you know you have to go out
there and tell them so I would just make it a priority to tell the people who are
closest to you that you have this diagnosis and then kind of mention it
when you see everyone else in passing like oh hey by the way I got a diagnosis
of blah blah blah and you know so because we someone who's on the spectrum
will obviously be a certain characteristics of behavior and their
family members will see that and then they will
understand that I'd like all those Dan you know he's he's an interesting guy
there's all this stuff and you know He’s got his quirks and whatever but when you
say like I've got autism I go oh ok well that make sense
you know it's kind of like they don't they don't expect you to be kind of like
to phone ups straight away like hello I have a diagnosis
but if it is in passing like oh yeah look well you know my quirks well it turns
out I'm on the autism spectrum blah blah blah and then I'll probably have
way more respect for you being completely open and honest and
approachable imagine it imagine you know if they want to ask questions about it
if they want to ask how to help accommodate you how to best support you
so say you're gonna stay in your you know your friend's house or your family
on this house and they don't live near you and you go somewhere they could then
ask you hey how do i guest accommodate you so I went to stay in my cousin's
house in Portsmouth I'm actually that’s where my family's from Portsmouth but I live in
Wales and so we went to Portsmouth and they stayed with them and you know one
of the things they said you know what you want to eat you know we'll get
anything and then I said the stuff I wanted to eat and then they kind of they
made a good thing about it they all went out and he bought loads of the stuff I
like to eat and then we all had like big dinner as a family with the stuff I
Like to eat and I kind of followed super awesome and it was so nice than to do
that you really didn't have to you but they did now super super awesome hey if
you think that these three tips can help us somebody who's just been diagnosed or
somebody who's about to be diagnosed please share this on their Facebook page
because that would be amazing and also you can tweet this out at somebody
because it'd be amazing or you can just tag them in the post below this if
you're watching on Instagram so without further ado guys I will see you in the
next video peace
you