Greetings all! Welcome to the Otherworld.
Let me introduce myself: my name is Robyn. I am 27 years old (28 in March) and got my official diagnosis when I was 26. However, I self-diagnosed first; which means I did tons and tons of research on the subject, talked to other autistic adults, and talked with friends who have autistic children. I have been on a path of self discovery since 2010, but back then their wasn’t much information in regards to autistic adult females online. I actually suggested my male best friend was autistic way before I ever figured out that I was!
So how did I figure out that I am Autistic? In June 2013 I had just come out of an emotionally abusive relationship that my now-husband rescued me from (we got married in June 2014 on the Solstice). After being in that emotionally abusive relationship, I hit what I now know as Autistic burnout. From the summer of 2013 until the spring of 2015 I was quite depressed and I had also lost a bunch of coping skills due to hitting a burnout period. It wasn’t until April 2015, after my husband had pointed out a few of the things that I did, that I was able to pinpoint why I was having issues. He mentioned that my face never quite matches up with my emotions unless the emotion is extreme. I was also losing words a lot and going non-verbal. I asked my friend who has an Autistic daughter if she thought I might be Autistic too. She said very much yes that I was and she had suspected it back in 2014 when we had chatted after my wedding for a couple of hours. So from there I researched a ton and proceeded to drive my husband and friends crazy telling them all of the things I was learning.
When I was in 4th grade I was put in a gifted kids class with a vague mention of autism. My parents did nothing with that information, and none of the other schools I attended ever brought it up. Females on the spectrum are very good at mimicking their peers to try to blend in the best they can. Even with my supposed mimicking of my peers, I was still very much the weird kid. All of my classmates knew I was different, even I knew I was different, but I had no clue as to why. That is part of the reason my blog is titled “The Otherworld” – I have felt my world has always been elsewhere.
Finally, at age 26, I found my Otherworld and those like me. It’s been amazing having others to talk to who are the same as me. We can communicate and understand each other on a whole different level. I finally understand myself and can explain to others why I have issues with certain things. I love having the proper words to finally explain my experiences.
Anyway, welcome to my world: The Otherworld.