Nobody writes the version for the 43-year-old.

The coming out stories that get told — the ones that get the movies, the memoirs, the supportive guidance #RepublishedAutomatically #Autism #Neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic

It's a Sunday afternoon. I'm scrolling through my phone on the couch, half-watching something in the background, when a post stops me cold.

I sit up. #RepublishedAutomatically #Neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic #Autism

There is a very specific thing that happens to me when someone I love dies.

Nothing.

Not immediately, anyway. I hear the news and something in my #RepublishedAutomatically #ActuallyAutistic #Autism #Neurodiversity

I want to start with a number.

75%.

That's the percentage of autistic adults who meet the criteria for at least one mental health condition. Anxiety, #RepublishedAutomatically #Neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic

I need to tell you about the moment.

Not the diagnosis. Not the paperwork, not the waiting room, not the clinician using words I already knew because I'd done #RepublishedAutomatically #ActuallyAutistic #Neurodiversity

I write a lot about the hard stuff.

The masking, the loneliness, the bureaucratic nightmare of trying to get diagnosed, the Medicaid cuts, the DOJ memos, #RepublishedAutomatically #Autism #Neurodiversity #ActuallyAutistic