
06/02/2024
Happy anniversary to me! Today marks 15 years since I received my autism diagnosis. The autism world has changed a huge amount since then. I was put in touch with one of the very first autism mentors whilst at university (now there are thousands all around the country). There was a small group of autistic people that used to meet once a week. I really thought that the six of us were the only autistic students there! I felt so old, getting my diagnosis at 19. But now, 19 seems so young, and I know people in their 40s, 50s and 60s that are just being diagnosed. I am grateful to have spent practically my entire adulthood knowing this truth about myself. In 2009, we used to call ourselves ‘Aspies’, and one of the first books I ever read was Aspergirls, which was revolutionary at the time. I remember reading blogs written by parents about their young autistic children, and although I found these beautiful and insightful, I didn’t see myself anywhere. There was so little knowledge about autism in people like me, and yet I found people that saw my humanity everywhere I went.
Getting that diagnosis on the 6th February, 2009, changed the course of my entire life. I remember sitting in my university hall of residence, and I felt as though the entire world had just tilted 90° and I had to get used to this new way of living. Then as time went on, my whole way of being and seeing and doing shifted into that new 90° angle and then I couldn’t imagine it ever going back to how it was. I am so grateful that people being diagnosed in 2024 have a whole community and access to information and knowledge that they are whole and don’t need to change. I am also so grateful that I did get my own diagnosis in 2009 and have let my life be shaped by this knowledge. I imagine going back to tell 19-year-old Amanda what her life is like in 2024, and how that would be absolutely inconceivable to her. I wonder what 49-year-old Amanda will be like in another 15 years!