This chapter explores the work on autistic adults, challenging stereotypes about autism and emphasizing the importance of early support and funding to improve their well-being. It also discusses the unique challenges faced by autistic people as they age and advocates for respecting their chosen identities.
Over the past two decades, our cultural understanding of autism and what it means to be autistic has grown - though we have a long way to go. But there are entire generations of people who grew up when the popular conception of autism was a far cry from how it’s now understood.
It meant a whole host of people who grew up feeling like they didn’t fit in, but never quite knowing why.
They were autistic, but undiagnosed. And when a diagnosis did come as an adult – it was often revelatory and life-changing.
On All in the Mind this week, 'hidden histories’ of late-diagnosed autistic adults.