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This April, for Autism Acceptance Month, we’re celebrating differences. Every journey with autism is unique and whether it’s your personal experience or that of your child and family, your story can help others feel seen, understood, and supported.

As part of Autism Acceptance Month, we’ve invited autistic individuals, parents, caregivers, and families to share their experiences and were overwhelmed by the response.

Today, we would love to introduce you to Rachel:

I was diagnosed at 30, but by the time I was, I had years of evidence from the workplace. I tried to get a diagnosis when I was around 12 years old. When I tried explaining to my GP why I thought I was, the GP just said ‘no I wasn’t’. No screening, no real questions asked. Just one look at me talking seemed to be enough reason to the GP that I wasn’t autistic. Even before that, my mum took me to see a specialist when I was 2-3. The specialist said ‘it was just me’.

It seems to be a common story I hear for girls trying to get a diagnosis. By the time I finally do get one, I’ve suffered a lot: misunderstandings of my tone of voice, isolation, anxiety, depression, masking to fit in, told I’m hard to work with, saying I was shouting when I wasn’t or I wasn’t intended to be shouting etc.

To be diagnosed is like ‘finally, I have an answer why I was different to everyone else, even if I try to mask to fit in, the mask slips sometimes’. But now I have to re learn how to be myself again. After years of learning to mask, which is exhausting on it’s own, I have to unlearn what I’ve learned to protect myself, fit in, in a society that isn’t all understanding to people like me. But it’s a relief to have an answer. Not just for me but for my parents too. At least my mum knows her instincts weren’t wrong.

A big thank you to Rachel from all of us at Autism Anglia. If you would like to know more about what we’re doing this Autism Acceptance Month, click here.