As You Are

Diagnosis can be complicated subject for people with ASD. Unless your parents caught it while you were still a child, the chances are good that you're undiagnosed. I have heard of adults getting late diagnoses as well - it's not unheard of - but ASD is by definition a developmental disorder, which means that insurance companies tend to have little to gain by supporting the pursuance of an adult diagnosis. Why? Because adults rarely need the sorts of things diagnosed children receive, such as occupational therapy for motor skills. For adults, it's often a case of getting tested, getting the diagnosis, and walking away.  Then, add in the process of finding a competent autism specialist, especially one that knows what the disorder looks like in adults. That issue is even further compounded if you happen to be female. Most research done into ASD was conducted on largely male groups, and it's only recently that research has begun on how ASD can present differently in women. ...

It's a common dream to move to the country and start a new life. Live in a quaint town where the main shops are family-owned and everyone knows everyone else. Perhaps raise a few chickens and start a garden, with your dog for company.  My husband, Jeff, and I have a similar dream, to be honest. We've both grown up in suburban areas with hardworking dads and stay-at-home, homeschooling moms. It was a good childhood, for both of us. Soon after we got married at twenty years old, we realized we absolutely hated living that sort of life as adults. And the more I think about it, the more I think our ASD has to do with that. Life is stressful. Managing bills, work, social obligations, cleaning the house, car maintenance, grocery shopping, cooking, family members feeling neglected, laundry, marriage, and attempts to plan a path into the future is a very full plate for a socially-inept autistic prone to feeling overwhelmed. Especially when it all piles up because oh shoot, I forgot abo...

I don't know about everyone in the church, but I've heard a lot of stories from young women about how being raised in the church has impacted their sex lives. Especially the "sex was treated as a taboo topic, and now I'm married and dealing with _____ problem." I'm fairly sure most of you have heard it before as well. Then there's the other side of the coin though. The church in America seems to be gaining awareness that treating sex as something inherently sinful right up until a girl has a pair of rings on her finger is harmful (I have no idea how it impacts boys/men so I'm not even going to stray into that topic right now - perhaps I'll get my husband's thoughts on the matter for later time). So, we also have church communities that go out of their way to address love and sex, not only in their regular Sunday services, but in their youth groups as well. All well and good; they're trying to prevent their young women from entering marriage...

I wouldn't say I could win any "worst life" contests, not by a long shot. I'm only twenty-three, and most of those years were... at least relatively normal (normal has been redefined in hindsight). But I have experienced some things that not everyone has and those things have caused me and my loved ones pain. Some of it was my fault, some of it wasn't. I was barely age nineteen when I ran away from home. I refused to call it that at first. I was "moving out." Right, almost completely unplanned, without a driver's license or a job, just a duffel bag and purse with a taxi as my escape vehicle. That's definitely what "moving out" looks like. It's a long story, one I don't like talking about because it's embarrassing, it's painful, and I'm scared of being judged for my decisions. I sometimes wonder now if I couldn't have plowed through the difficulties I was facing back then that pushed me to run, but there isn't...