"When I finally got the diagnosis, it felt like being in labour as a mom, being in labour for most of my life and finally delivering that baby, that relief,"
"It was a relief to me knowing that my differences had a meaning to it. And it wasn't me being crazy or mentally ill. It had a rhyme and reason to it."
"I'm terrified of my future because I'm plagued with so many health issues,"
Sondra Williams spent a decade in and out of mental-health facilities as a teenager and young adult and was medicated for schizophrenia and social anxiety. In her late 30s, after two of her children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, medical review led to her own ASD diagnosis, which brought relief and clarity about lifelong differences. In her 60s she has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure, conditions some studies suggest are more common among autistic people. Global estimates show autistic people aged 70 or older rose from 894,700 in 1990 to nearly 2.5 million in 2021, with projections to reach 5.1 million by 2040. Factors behind the increase include population growth, improved awareness and screening, and a revision of diagnostic criteria that enabled adult diagnosis.
Read at Nature
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