EthelthrethWinetiger
New Member
Hello to all of you!
I'm a 37-y/o man (well, more NB, but that's another conversation) who has been in the process of realizing that I'm autistic. I always resonated with spectrum-y folks, but was relatively high-functioning, so I thought it couldn't be me, especially because I was able to explain away a lot of the symptoms with trauma. But, after dropping out of school a few times, I finally managed to graduate and become licensed as a counsellor, and in the course of my studies, it became obvious to me that descriptions of Asperger's/HF autism fit me to a T. The past few weeks I've been obsessively researching, and am shocked how much this explains pretty much everything in my life - the social dysfunction, the hyper-sensitivity, the obsessiveness, struggles with school/jobs, the PDA, the stimming, the constant burnout from masking, the insomnia, all the other health issues... even now, I can't handle working much, can't afford a place to live, and so I live in my car, which is hard in the Canadian winter.
The other day, I went to a walk-in clinic to ask for a referral to a psychiatrist for assessment, but was told that it's not covered by public healthcare here in BC, and just the assessment costs upwards of $5000. This is so disappointing, as I thought maybe I'd finally be able to access some support, but it's only available to people with a diagnosis, and you have to be rich to access that. So for the foreseeable future, I'll keep struggling along, trying to survive in this neuro-typical world.
Anyway, I figured that I might find some people with common experiences here, because there's no one I can really talk to in the real world (ironically, as a new therapist who hasn't yet found any clients and survives by delivering pizzas and odd gardening jobs, I can't afford my own therapy). I'm a multi-instrumentalist/music producer, artist, writer, environmentalist, permaculturalist and more, and look forward to connecting more with others on the spectrum, as well as learning more about living with autism.
I'm a 37-y/o man (well, more NB, but that's another conversation) who has been in the process of realizing that I'm autistic. I always resonated with spectrum-y folks, but was relatively high-functioning, so I thought it couldn't be me, especially because I was able to explain away a lot of the symptoms with trauma. But, after dropping out of school a few times, I finally managed to graduate and become licensed as a counsellor, and in the course of my studies, it became obvious to me that descriptions of Asperger's/HF autism fit me to a T. The past few weeks I've been obsessively researching, and am shocked how much this explains pretty much everything in my life - the social dysfunction, the hyper-sensitivity, the obsessiveness, struggles with school/jobs, the PDA, the stimming, the constant burnout from masking, the insomnia, all the other health issues... even now, I can't handle working much, can't afford a place to live, and so I live in my car, which is hard in the Canadian winter.
The other day, I went to a walk-in clinic to ask for a referral to a psychiatrist for assessment, but was told that it's not covered by public healthcare here in BC, and just the assessment costs upwards of $5000. This is so disappointing, as I thought maybe I'd finally be able to access some support, but it's only available to people with a diagnosis, and you have to be rich to access that. So for the foreseeable future, I'll keep struggling along, trying to survive in this neuro-typical world.
Anyway, I figured that I might find some people with common experiences here, because there's no one I can really talk to in the real world (ironically, as a new therapist who hasn't yet found any clients and survives by delivering pizzas and odd gardening jobs, I can't afford my own therapy). I'm a multi-instrumentalist/music producer, artist, writer, environmentalist, permaculturalist and more, and look forward to connecting more with others on the spectrum, as well as learning more about living with autism.
