u/AffectTrue2490

Hello, I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I've posted it here anyway. I'm a 23F with autism (moderate to high support needs/Level 2 to 3), anxiety and intellectual disability and I want to know if the following that I've listed counts as autistic regression. I will put next to them ages that they happened (Age l) and when I realized, discovered &/or started doing them at (Age ll) (You don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. So take as long as you like with it):

- Watching, discovering and playing with weird, niche, outdated, not trending &/or obscure stuff (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 13-15)

- Intentionally or unintentionally doing stuff and getting away scot free (Age l: 0-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Breaking &/or resetting personal belongings without realizing that it was wrong & getting away scot free (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 10-17)

- Not realizing what you did &/or said was wrong, inappropriate, disrespectful and the worst thing ever (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 12-now)

- Being chronically online without social media and platforms (Age l: 9-now. Age ll: 12-13)

- Being violent & aggressive to yourself & those around you intentionally or unintentionally (Age l: 2-12. Age ll: 11)

- Being angry/having anger issues & lashing out to yourself & those around you (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-22)

- Not being able to work during your years at high school (Age l: 11-18. Age ll: 15-17)

- Having no friends at school as not only did they know who you were & were bullied, excluded, forgotten, not invited, laughed at & found boring & annoying by them (this includes those that were nice to me), but you preferred to & still be a loner. I don't know the word to describe this (Age l: 10-now. Age ll: 17-22)

- Needing help with tying shoes (Age l: 5-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with doing you hair up (Age l: 5-22. Age ll: 11-13 to 22-23)

- Needing help with using the toilet (Age l: 1-11. Age ll: 8-11)

- Needing help with using the bath & shower (Age l: 4-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with putting on your clothes (Age l: 4-10. Age ll: 10-11)

- Not being able to go on overnight school excursions, sleepovers & invited road trips due to my poor/abysmal motor skills (Age l: 3-18. Age ll: 11-now)

- Needing help & being taught basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shaving etc.) (Age l: 5-13. Age ll: 13-now)

- Not picking up on sarcasm & being sarcastic, jokes & inappropriate behavior & humor (Age l: 5-now. Age ll: 10-now)

- Forgetting what you were taught & what was said to you within a second or a day. I'm terrible at math's, spelling, grammar, English, science, geography, social skills...you name it (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Forgetting everything (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 12-16)

- Poor speech, poor vocabulary &/or trouble expressing things (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-16)

- Stalking people & wanting attention from them online & socially (this includes those I went to school with) (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 15-22)

As you can see, I have the harmful autism stereotype except that I'm a woman (Think Rain Man & What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I know that they're bad & harmful autism representations, but I see myself in the characters from both movies), & everything that I've listed has happened since birth & I go back & forth with it all, but I got worse between the ages of 4-15 & am still worse to this very day sadly. Has it all caused frustration, disappointment, mockery, anger & judgement from my family & relatives past & present? Absolutely as no joke, they've tried desperately to make me not have a lonely isolated screen addicted talentless life past & present, but I've sadly failed them as they constantly bring up all the bad things I did in the past & current when I sometimes try to be positive (I'm negative & I hate it so much) & I have a habit of forgetting & not listening to anyone. Because of everything that I've listed, they presume incompetence about my future due to my history. The worse part about this is my family, relatives & everyone at school often say that I'm "pure, innocent, cute, adorable, inspiring & don't have a single mean bone in my body" whilst knowing the bad side of me, which is frustrating on so many levels. For that reason & for me realizing all the horrible disgusting things that I've done & said later in life, I hate myself, I have trouble accepting myself, I constantly tell myself & get told by my family that I should've been born normal/have a normal functioning brain & should've done more with my life, & I think about bad thoughts about my past & future. Apologies for rambling on here for too long, but I want to know if everything that I've listed here is autistic regression?

Hello, I'm a 23F with autism (moderate to high support needs/Level 2 to 3), anxiety and intellectual disability and I want to know if the following that I've listed counts as autistic regression. I will put next to them ages that they happened (Age l) and when I realized, discovered &/or started doing them at (Age ll) (You don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. So take as long as you like with it):

- Watching, discovering and playing with weird, niche, outdated, not trending &/or obscure stuff (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 13-15)

- Intentionally or unintentionally doing stuff and getting away scot free (Age l: 0-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Breaking &/or resetting personal belongings without realizing that it was wrong & getting away scot free (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 10-17)

- Not realizing what you did &/or said was wrong, inappropriate, disrespectful and the worst thing ever (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 12-now)

- Being chronically online without social media and platforms (Age l: 9-now. Age ll: 12-13)

- Being violent & aggressive to yourself & those around you intentionally or unintentionally (Age l: 2-12. Age ll: 11)

- Being angry/having anger issues & lashing out to yourself & those around you (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-22)

- Not being able to work during your years at high school (Age l: 11-18. Age ll: 15-17)

- Having no friends at school as not only did they know who you were & were bullied, excluded, forgotten, not invited, laughed at & found boring & annoying by them (this includes those that were nice to me), but you preferred to & still be a loner. I don't know the word to describe this (Age l: 10-now. Age ll: 17-22)

- Needing help with tying shoes (Age l: 5-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with doing you hair up (Age l: 5-22. Age ll: 11-13 to 22-23)

- Needing help with using the toilet (Age l: 1-11. Age ll: 8-11)

- Needing help with using the bath & shower (Age l: 4-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with putting on your clothes (Age l: 4-10. Age ll: 10-11)

- Not being able to go on overnight school excursions, sleepovers & invited road trips due to my poor/abysmal motor skills (Age l: 3-18. Age ll: 11-now)

- Needing help & being taught basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shaving etc.) (Age l: 5-13. Age ll: 13-now)

- Not picking up on sarcasm & being sarcastic, jokes & inappropriate behavior & humor (Age l: 5-now. Age ll: 10-now)

- Forgetting what you were taught & what was said to you within a second or a day. I'm terrible at math's, spelling, grammar, English, science, geography, social skills...you name it (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Forgetting everything (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 12-16)

- Poor speech, poor vocabulary &/or trouble expressing things (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-16)

- Stalking people & wanting attention from them online & socially (this includes those I went to school with) (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 15-22)

As you can see, I have the harmful autism stereotype except that I'm a woman (Think Rain Man & What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I know that they're bad & harmful autism representations, but I see myself in the characters from both movies), & everything that I've listed has happened since birth & I go back & forth with it all, but I got worse between the ages of 4-15 & am still worse to this very day sadly. Has it all caused frustration, disappointment, mockery, anger & judgement from my family & relatives past & present? Absolutely as no joke, they've tried desperately to make me not have a lonely isolated screen addicted talentless life past & present, but I've sadly failed them as they constantly bring up all the bad things I did in the past & current when I sometimes try to be positive (I'm negative & I hate it so much) & I have a habit of forgetting & not listening to anyone. Because of everything that I've listed, they presume incompetence about my future due to my history. The worse part about this is my family, relatives & everyone at school often say that I'm "pure, innocent, cute, adorable, inspiring & don't have a single mean bone in my body" whilst knowing the bad side of me, which is frustrating on so many levels. For that reason & for me realizing all the horrible disgusting things that I've done & said later in life, I hate myself, I have trouble accepting myself, I constantly tell myself & get told by my family that I should've been born normal/have a normal functioning brain & should've done more with my life, & I think about bad thoughts about my past & future. Apologies for rambling on here for too long, but I want to know if everything that I've listed here is autistic regression?

Hello, I'm a 23F with autism (moderate to high support needs/Level 2 to 3), anxiety and intellectual disability and I want to know if the following that I've listed counts as autistic regression. I will put next to them ages that they happened (Age l) and when I realized, discovered &/or started doing them at (Age ll) (You don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. So take as long as you like with it):

- Watching, discovering and playing with weird, niche, outdated, not trending &/or obscure stuff (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 13-15)

- Intentionally or unintentionally doing stuff and getting away scot free (Age l: 0-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Breaking &/or resetting personal belongings without realizing that it was wrong & getting away scot free (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 10-17)

- Not realizing what you did &/or said was wrong, inappropriate, disrespectful and the worst thing ever (Age l: 2-now. Age ll: 12-now)

- Being chronically online without social media and platforms (Age l: 9-now. Age ll: 12-13)

- Being violent & aggressive to yourself & those around you intentionally or unintentionally (Age l: 2-12. Age ll: 11)

- Being angry/having anger issues & lashing out to yourself & those around you (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-22)

- Not being able to work during your years at high school (Age l: 11-18. Age ll: 15-17)

- Having no friends at school as not only did they know who you were & were bullied, excluded, forgotten, not invited, laughed at & found boring & annoying by them (this includes those that were nice to me), but you preferred to & still be a loner. I don't know the word to describe this (Age l: 10-now. Age ll: 17-22)

- Needing help with tying shoes (Age l: 5-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with doing you hair up (Age l: 5-22. Age ll: 11-13 to 22-23)

- Needing help with using the toilet (Age l: 1-11. Age ll: 8-11)

- Needing help with using the bath & shower (Age l: 4-12. Age ll: 12-13)

- Needing help with putting on your clothes (Age l: 4-10. Age ll: 10-11)

- Not being able to go on overnight school excursions, sleepovers & invited road trips due to my poor/abysmal motor skills (Age l: 3-18. Age ll: 11-now)

- Needing help & being taught basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing, cooking, cleaning, shaving etc.) (Age l: 5-13. Age ll: 13-now)

- Not picking up on sarcasm & being sarcastic, jokes & inappropriate behavior & humor (Age l: 5-now. Age ll: 10-now)

- Forgetting what you were taught & what was said to you within a second or a day. I'm terrible at math's, spelling, grammar, English, science, geography, social skills...you name it (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 13-16)

- Forgetting everything (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 12-16)

- Poor speech, poor vocabulary &/or trouble expressing things (Age l: 4-now. Age ll: 9-16)

- Stalking people & wanting attention from them online & socially (this includes those I went to school with) (Age l: 6-now. Age ll: 15-22)

As you can see, I have the harmful autism stereotype except that I'm a woman (Think Rain Man & What's Eating Gilbert Grape. I know that they're bad & harmful autism representations, but I see myself in the characters from both movies), & everything that I've listed has happened since birth & I go back & forth with it all, but I got worse between the ages of 4-15 & am still worse to this very day sadly. Has it all caused frustration, disappointment, mockery, anger & judgement from my family & relatives past & present? Absolutely as no joke, they've tried desperately to make me not have a lonely isolated screen addicted talentless life past & present, but I've sadly failed them as they constantly bring up all the bad things I did in the past & current when I sometimes try to be positive (I'm negative & I hate it so much) & I have a habit of forgetting & not listening to anyone. Because of everything that I've listed, they presume incompetence about my future due to my history. The worse part about this is my family, relatives & everyone at school often say that I'm "pure, innocent, cute, adorable, inspiring & don't have a single mean bone in my body" whilst knowing the bad side of me, which is frustrating on so many levels. For that reason & for me realizing all the horrible disgusting things that I've done & said later in life, I hate myself, I have trouble accepting myself, I constantly tell myself & get told by my family that I should've been born normal/have a normal functioning brain & should've done more with my life, & I think about bad thoughts about my past & future. Apologies for rambling on here for too long, but I want to know if everything that I've listed here is autistic regression?

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want some answers on one of the following questions. Most of these will be related to autism & intellectual disability as I have moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability physically & mentally, some won't. Anyways, here are the questions (you don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. Also, the questions that I've listed, they all still happen to me past & present):

A.) My family has a habit of going back & forth telling me that i can and can't/will never do anything due to my disabilities, lazy lifestyle, screen additions, weird & niche interests and my lack of talents. Is this common with autistic & intellectually disabled people?

B.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I have a constant habit of constantly wanting more answers from my family about what they really think of me & if they think I'll do anything after me slowly developing & managing myself later in life, & realizing & discovering things late both physically & mentally. They know more about me, but wouldn't tell me at the time as my mind was like that of a 2 year old & they wanted me to figure it all out later in life. Is this common with autism as every time I do this, they get frustrated.

C.) As of December 31st 2025, I've started journaling and I kid you not, I wish that I did journaling (& used Reddit) in the past as I had diaries as a kid but rarely used them due to my screen additions (my diaries are gone now) & during my teens years/school years & after graduation, I have been through & cause trauma in the past & current, I wasn't allowed to have social media & platforms due to my disabilities, which resulted in me being excluded, being chronically online looking at weird stuff & people not remembering my birthday aside from my family. Is it too late to journal?

D.) Similar to the abovementioned, are there any apps & websites where I can post pictures of my journaling pages? I want to make some friends as due to my disabilities, I can't do anything other than work, come home, be lazy & look at weird stuff. This also applies to scrapbooking & journaling as I've also started doing it this year despite never doing it in my life ever

E.) Since birth, I constantly go back & forth with having a mind of a toddler & having a mind of an adult both physically & mentally. Me personally, I believe that this is common with those with moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability as despite me managing myself better, I was pretty bad during my childhood & adolescence. I've heard that this is known as age regression and/or little space/regression, but I want to know what you think this is as I lack common sense, book smarts, street smarts & talents. I also want to know if looking & watching things that aren't trending or a thing anymore (In other words, niche, childish & obscure stuff) counts as this as I had no friends for this reason.

F.) This one is private so please forgive me in advance, but in my country Australia, I'm on a disability pension with Centrelink and according to my mother (and possibly my family), it means that I can't & will never do anything due to my disabilities & being on this. Is this right or wrong as I've been working for 2 years now. I'm not good at math's so I don't know this very well.

G.) I've always been a loner & have been bullied & excluded at school. Due to this, me having a isolated lifestyle, me being passive & passive aggressive & a hypocrite, me not standing up for myself due to my poor speech & trouble expressing things & me not having any friends, my mother forces me to go to her family gatherings & do things for her father/my grandfather despite me not wanting to do any of that. Is this common with autistic people as she only does this to me & me only, not my siblings & is this slavery & me being taken advantage of? I also want to know a word/term that describes people that have had both a good & traumatic life.

H.) Does anyone have the harmful stereotype of autism? (intentionally &/or obviously doing harmful stuff & getting away scot free, forgetting what I was taught within a split second, I couldn't go to sleepovers & overnight excursions due to my abysmal motor skills etc.) The reason I ask this is cause my family tell me that I & still am a pretty good person compared to other autistic & intellectually disabled people, but with what I've listed, I'm not lol.

I.) Finally, is everything that I've listed related to internalized ableism, late bloomer & other terms that I've never heard off or forgot to mention?

Those are my questions.

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want some answers on one of the following questions. Most of these will be related to autism & intellectual disability as I have moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability physically & mentally, some won't. Anyways, here are the questions (you don't have to answer all of them as this post is long. Also, the questions that I've listed, they all still happen to me past & present):

A.) My family has a habit of going back & forth telling me that i can and can't/will never do anything due to my disabilities, lazy lifestyle, screen additions, weird & niche interests and my lack of talents. Is this common with autistic & intellectually disabled people?

B.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I have a constant habit of constantly wanting more answers from my family about what they really think of me & if they think I'll do anything after me slowly developing & managing myself later in life, & realizing & discovering things late both physically & mentally. They know more about me, but wouldn't tell me at the time as my mind was like that of a 2 year old & they wanted me to figure it all out later in life. Is this common with autism as every time I do this, they get frustrated.

C.) As of December 31st 2025, I've started journaling and I kid you not, I wish that I did journaling (& used Reddit) in the past as I had diaries as a kid but rarely used them due to my screen additions (my diaries are gone now) & during my teens years/school years & after graduation, I have been through & cause trauma in the past & current, I wasn't allowed to have social media & platforms due to my disabilities, which resulted in me being excluded, being chronically online looking at weird stuff & people not remembering my birthday aside from my family. Is it too late to journal?

D.) Similar to the abovementioned, are there any apps & websites where I can post pictures of my journaling pages? I want to make some friends as due to my disabilities, I can't do anything other than work, come home, be lazy & look at weird stuff. This also applies to scrapbooking & journaling as I've also started doing it this year despite never doing it in my life ever

E.) Since birth, I constantly go back & forth with having a mind of a toddler & having a mind of an adult both physically & mentally. Me personally, I believe that this is common with those with moderate to high support needs autism & intellectual disability as despite me managing myself better, I was pretty bad during my childhood & adolescence. I've heard that this is known as age regression and/or little space/regression, but I want to know what you think this is as I lack common sense, book smarts, street smarts & talents. I also want to know if looking & watching things that aren't trending or a thing anymore (In other words, niche, childish & obscure stuff) counts as this as I had no friends for this reason.

F.) This one is private so please forgive me in advance, but in my country Australia, I'm on a disability pension with Centrelink and according to my mother (and possibly my family), it means that I can't & will never do anything due to my disabilities & being on this. Is this right or wrong as I've been working for 2 years now. I'm not good at math's so I don't know this very well.

G.) I've always been a loner & have been bullied & excluded at school. Due to this, me having a isolated lifestyle, me being passive & passive aggressive & a hypocrite, me not standing up for myself due to my poor speech & trouble expressing things & me not having any friends, my mother forces me to go to her family gatherings & do things for her father/my grandfather despite me not wanting to do any of that. Is this common with autistic people as she only does this to me & me only, not my siblings & is this slavery & me being taken advantage of? I also want to know a word/term that describes people that have had both a good & traumatic life.

H.) Does anyone have the harmful stereotype of autism? (intentionally &/or obviously doing harmful stuff & getting away scot free, forgetting what I was taught within a split second, I couldn't go to sleepovers & overnight excursions due to my abysmal motor skills etc.) The reason I ask this is cause my family tell me that I & still am a pretty good person compared to other autistic & intellectually disabled people, but with what I've listed, I'm not lol.

I.) Finally, is everything that I've listed related to internalized ableism, late bloomer & other terms that I've never heard off or forgot to mention?

Those are my questions.

Hello, I know this isn't the right place to post this, so please forgive me if that's the case, but I want to know if anyone has been through the following past & present. Some of these will be related to autism & developmental delays (cause I'm autistic myself), some won't. Also, you do not have to answer all of them as this is a very long & lengthy post. So take as long as you like reading it all & I'll list what ages I've been through them all &/or when I discovered them (Note: I'm aware that I've made posts relating to what I've listed above this paragraph in this community & I do apologize on behave. I'm still new to using Reddit, I'm curious to know if there are people out there like me & I want to release some stuff that I still go through & have been through. Hope that makes sense**)**:

- When you graduate school, you still prefer to be in your room on your screens & looking at weird & niche interests since you were a teenager (Age: 18-now)

- Similar to the abovementioned, when you try to achieve your dreams after school, you realize you can't do them & drop out of them all, much to the disappointment of your family as they expected better of you (Age: 18-now)

- After graduating school, your mother & grandfather are treating you like a slave due to your loner personality, your passive & passive aggressive style, your poor lifestyle & you having trouble expressing what to say (Age: 19-now)

- Similar to the abovementioned, your mother (& most of your family) taking advantage of you as you have no friends & you isolate yourself (Age: 9-now)

- Your mother & siblings getting the shits with you as you refuse to see your dysfunctional family members. So they guilt trip you into changing your mind (Age: 17-now)

- You constantly comparing yourself to your family, relatives & those you went to school with (this includes disabled people) on social media & real life. You do it so much that you get insomnia & anxiety attacks physically & mentally (Age: 17-now)

- Your mother (& your family) wishing that you were normal despite telling you that you're perfect as you are & that you're doing extremely well (Age: 15-now)

- Your mother (& your family) telling you that you can't do anything & won't ever have life figured out cause you're disabled & are on disability penton. I'm a 22 turning 23F & I don't know what to do with my life in an AI generated world. I'm thinking of doing community services (despite never doing it at all), but my mother believes that I will never do that for this reason & cause I have poor speech, lack book smarts & common sense, trouble expressing things & I have abysmal social skills (Age: 20-now)

- Your family saying false & often harmful things to you about your conditions (Age: 12-now)

- You getting taken advantage of by your parents & siblings cause you're a loner & have a poor lifestyle (Age: 18-now)

- Your family telling you that you should go to a care home if both your parents die (Age: 20-now)

- You constantly telling your workers about your life, mostly the bad & sad stuff, much to the frustration of your parents (Age: 19-now)

- Your mother constantly talks about you to her friends & family while you're standing next to her, either drunk or sober (Age: 18-now)

- You constantly telling your mother (& your family) everything (Age: 5-now)

- You lying to your family about your interest in art during your teen years & adult years & when you tell them, they're disappointed in you as they expected better of you. I only did it as I daydreamed about weird stuff as I know nothing about art & the history of it whatsoever (Age: 12-22)

- Your family putting you through trauma by putting pressure on you, being hard on you & wanting you to have life figured out between the ages of 12-18 years old (Age: 12-now)

- Despite preferring to be a loner & being in your own little world, you realize that those you thought were your friends at school turned out to find you boring, to the point of not inviting you to events, not remembering your birthday & not including you on physical & digital photos, & on social media (Age: 12-now)

- Your mother (& your family) believing that you'll never do basic tasks despite you discovering & doing them late later in life. They also believe that even if you moved away, you'll still have a bad & lazy lifestyle (Age: 16-now)

- Your family knowing that you'll never achieve anything (e.g. vocational education) & you never knowing what you did &/or said wrong. They wanted you to figured it out at a late age (aka late bloomer) (Age: 16-now)

- You constantly not listening to your family's advices & tips despite them trying their absolute hardest & them constantly telling you, much to their frustration (Age: 11-now)

- You constantly wanting more answers from your family & what they really think of you & your lifestyle, much to their frustration (Age: 13-now)

- You having relationship issues with your mother (& your family) due to both of you's having different lifestyles, both of you's being passive & passive aggressive, you constantly snapping at her & not taking her advices, her not accepting parts of you etc. (Age: 4-now)

- Your family knowing more about you, but don't want to tell you as you still "simple" & "will never understand" (Age: 12-now)

- My family telling me that I make life hard for them when I intentionally &/or unintentionally did/said some bad stuff (Age: 9-now)

- Me being intentionally &/or unintentionally violent &/or aggressive to my family (Age: 7-10)

- Your family laughing at you for swearing, for pronouncing words & names wrong, for trying to be serious etc. When you try & be funny, they don't appreciate it in the slightest (Age: 9-now)

- Your family & relatives viewing you as a burden & presuming incompetence due to your past & the bad things you did, & everything that I've listed so far. They wished that you had done more with your life both in the past & present (Age: 15-now)

I know all of this is private & I apologize in advance, but I want to know if anyone went through what I've listed. I have told a few other communities on Reddit about some of the things that I've listed & most of them have said that I should go to therapy, do public housing, participate in groups, get a social worker & more, but I can't do some of them as my parents have guardianship order over me till death. Some have also said that they've been through what I've listed & believe that my family are doing it out of love as life is tough & difficult. Finally, I've been told that even If I developed normally or later in life, I'll still get viewed as a burden & judged for my differences. I was also told that being taken advantage of & not standing up for yourself is sadly inevitable for many autistic & developmentally delayed people. But I would love to know your thoughts & if you would like, give me some tips on what to do on what I've listed. I wish I used Reddit when I was going through some stuff during school & after graduating school.

My mum & I have been at each others throats for one of the following (you don't have to answer all of them as this is a long one & most of what I've listed, my family does this too, but my mother tends to do it all the most):

- She knows more about me, but doesn't want to tell me as I'm still developmentally delayed (& cause she & dad are my caregivers)

- In the past, when we were talking about me working part time after school & both of us agreeing that I can't due to my abysmal social skills & developmental delays, I said to her that I wished I was normal & she said to me "Me too," "I do as well" & "I wished you were too." I bought this up again years later after quitting a course at TAFE (a vocational education program in Australia). When I bring this up again, she tells me that she likes me the way I am despite her wishing that I was normal & her wishing that I could do most things non-disabled do (this includes my family & a few disabled people I went to school with), but I'm still going well unlike most people

- I've been telling a few people at work about mum constantly looking down on me & being constantly negative 24/7. I haven't told some workers about my conditions as I fear that they'll treat me differently, but when I told mum this, she says to me that I should tell them that I can't do most things cause I'm autistic & have a disability penton. Most of the workers don't know that I have a disability penton, but I want to know if it's too late to do anything & if I can do anything while I'm on a disability penton.

- Similar to the abovementioned, I've told most of my workers that I don't know what to do with my life due to my autism & developmental disability (I'm 22 turning 23). When I tell mum this, she wants me to tell them that I can't work in social settings (e.g. McDonalds) due to my bad social skills, that I can't work 9-5 due to my disabilities & that I'll never have life figured out due to my disabilities & different lifestyle. She also believes that in every single work place, you have to interact with people & work 9-5 every week.

- Mum tells me that I have "a bit of a disability" instead of saying that I'm disabled & her not accepting parts of me. She also gets the shits with me when I tell her more about my conditions (especially with the rise of what autism really is nowadays) & when I correct her on what to do & not to do with autistic & developmentally delayed people. She often says "I'm not discussing this shit anymore" when I talk about this & she also tells me that I am the way I am due to my autism, despite her telling me that I'm just myself, not my autism.

- Where I live, there is nothing hiring at the moment. When I tell mum this, she constantly says "I wish you'd worked somewhere else too, but there is nothing hiring in this town"

- She often tells me, whenever I do & discover things late & when I bring them up, that I would've never figured it out at the time & to stop looking back on things. Examples of this are "You'll never move into your own house/live independently. Your brother will take you," "You'll never have a partner," "You'll never have children," "You'll never have friends cause we're your best friends," "I ALWAYS knew that you'd never get a part time job during your years at high school, ever," "I knew/was told/have heard that person was bad, but I was never going to tell you at the time. You would've never figured it out back then," "Yeah, you would've NEVER figured out what you did wrong back then" etc. She also didn't tell me any of this at the time as she wanted me to figure it out & discover them late later in life.

- She tells me "why did you tell me at the time" & "well guess what, you got through it, so stop thinking about it" whenever I bring up that I didn't tell her that I was getting bullied at the time due to my obliviousness.

- She wished that I'd done more with my life both in the past & in the present (& possibly the future) despite her saying that I have a good life past & present

- She often talks about me to her friends & family while I'm standing next to her (both sober & drunk). I unfortunately can't stand up for myself due to my poor speech & vocabulary, & have difficulty expressing what I'm trying to say.

- She takes advantage of me by making me go to her family's gatherings as I have no irl friends & I'm a loner & isolate myself, & I have a bad lifestyle.

- She mutters under her breath when I do something wrong. I also do this unfortunately, so I'm probably being a hypocrite here

- Similar to the abovementioned, both of us are passive & passive aggressive.

- She constantly uses the "R" & "S" word as she grew up with them & is used to them

- She tells me that I'm making life hard for her when I intentionally &/or unintentionally did/said some bad stuff

- She (along with my siblings) constantly gets the shits with me when I refuse to see her family members as most of them are badly dysfunctional & have fears & doubts about me due to my conditions & different lifestyle. But due to my passive nature & my poor speech & vocabulary, she guilt trips me into changing my mind

I do apologize for making this as it's all private, but I want to know how to deal with all of this as I unfortunately have a habit of being negative everyday, not listening & taking her & my family's advices, & bringing up bad stuff in the past to her & everyone else, much to her frustration as she tries her damn hardest to make me think positive, yet she herself is negative & looks down on me (where do you think I get those traits from). She (along with my dad) are my full time caregivers till death, meaning that I can't do anything due to my disabilities. Finally, I unfortunately am having relationship issues with my mother as I used to be really close to her in the past, but recently, we're starting to have trouble getting along as both of us have different lifestyles, I mess everything up & we both have personal issues that we going through, all in the past, present & future. I want to know how to deal with all of this as I want to try & be more positive, yet me & my mother are constantly worrying & being negative about myself every single day due to my conditions :(

My mum & I have been at each others throats for one of the following (you don't have to answer all of them as this is a long one):

- She knows more about me, but doesn't want to tell me as I'm still developmentally delayed (& cause she & dad are my caregivers)

- In the past, when we were talking about me working part time after school & both of us agreeing that I can't due to my abysmal social skills & developmental delays, I said to her that I wished I was normal & she said to me "Me too," "I do as well" & "I wished you were too." I bought this up again years later after quitting a course at TAFE (a vocational education program in Australia). When I bring this up again, she tells me that she likes me the way I am despite her wishing that I was normal & her wishing that I could do most things non-disabled do (this includes my family & a few disabled people I went to school with)

- I've been telling a few people at work about mum constantly looking down on me & being constantly negative 24/7. I haven't told some workers about my conditions as I fear that they'll treat me differently, but when I told mum this, she says to me that I should tell them that I can't do most things cause I'm autistic. Most of the workers don't know that I have a disability penton.

- Similar to the abovementioned, I've told most of my workers that I don't know what to do with my life due to my autism & developmental disability (I'm 22 turning 23). When I tell mum this, she wants me to tell them that I can't work in social settings (e.g. McDonalds) due to my bad social skills & that I can't work 9-5 due to my disabilities. She also believes that in every single work place, you have to interact with people.

- Mum tells me that I have "a bit of a disability" instead of saying that I'm disabled & her not accepting parts of me. She also gets the shits with me when I tell her more about my conditions (especially with the rise of what autism really is nowadays) & when I correct her on what to do & not to do with autistic & developmentally delayed people. She often says "I'm not discussing this anymore" when I talk about this & she also tells me that I am the way I am due to my autism, despite her telling me that I'm just myself, not my autism

- Where I live, there is nothing hiring at the moment. When I tell mum this, she constantly says "I wish you'd worked somewhere else too, but there is nothing hiring in this town"

- She often tells me, whenever I do & discover things late & when I bring them up, that I would've never figured it out at the time & to stop looking back on things. Examples of this are "You'll never move into your own house/live independently. Your brother will take you," "You'll never have a partner," "You'll never have children," "I ALWAYS knew that you'd never get a part time job during your years at high school, ever," "I knew/was told/have heard that person was bad, but I was never going to tell you at the time. You would've never figured it out back then," "Yeah, you would've NEVER figured out what you did wrong back then" etc.

- She tells me "why did you tell me at the time" & "well guess what, you got through it, so stop thinking about it" whenever I bring up that I didn't tell her that I was getting bullied at the time due to my obliviousness.

- She wished that I'd done more with my life both in the past & in the present (& possibly the future)

- She often talks about me to her friends & family while I'm standing next to her. I unfortunately can't stand up for myself due to my poor speech & vocabulary, & have difficulty expressing what I'm trying to say.

- She takes advantage of me by making me go to her family's gatherings as I have no irl friends & I'm a loner & isolate myself.

- She mutters under her breath when I do something wrong

- She constantly uses the "R" & "S" word as she grew up with them & is used to them

- She tells me that I'm making life hard for her when I intentionally &/or unintentionally did/said some bad stuff

I do apologize for making this as it's all private, but I want to know how to deal with all of this as I unfortunately have a habit of being negative everyday, not listening & taking her & my family's advices, & bringing up bad stuff in the past to her & everyone else, much to her frustration as she tries her damn hardest to make me think positive, yet she herself is negative & looks down on me (where do you think I get those traits from). She (along with my dad) are my full time caregivers till death, meaning that I can't do anything due to my disabilities. Finally, I unfortunately am having relationship issues with my mother as I used to be really close to her in the past, but recently, we're starting to have trouble getting along as both of us have different lifestyles, I mess everything up & we both have personal issues that we going through, all in the past, present & future. I want to know how to deal with all of this as I want to try & be more positive, yet me & my mother are constantly worrying & being negative about myself every single day due to my conditions :(

Hi, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want to know if any autistic person has discovered one of the following that I've been through late (I will list what age I did and discovered them at & some of these may or may not be related to autism. Also, you don't have to answer all of them as this is a very lengthy list):

- Tying shoes late (Age: 11-12)

- Doing your hair on your own (Age: 11-12, but I started doing it at the age of 22-23)

- Using the toilet on your own (Age: 4-11. I unfortunately couldn't go on any school excursions for that reason)

- Using the bath & shower on your own (Age: 10-13. I also couldn't go on excursions for that reason)

- Your family & loved ones knowing that you wouldn't succeed & do things on your own either due to level support needs or other co conditions (e.g. vocational education) (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family & loved ones trying to make you more active, healthy & social, but you preferred to be in your own little world, addicted to screens and/or a loner (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family trying desperately & frustratingly to help you with your homework despite your forgetfulness, lack of focus, lack of interest & "simple mind" (Age: 16-now)

- You not being able to stand up for yourself (Age: 5-now)

- Starting school late (Age: 10-11. I had to go to preschool in 2008-2009 & to primary school in 2010 due to my poor learning & motor skills)

- Putting on your clothes (Age: 9-11)

- Being unintentionally and/or intentionally aggressive & violent to your loved ones, minor or major (Age: 11-now)

- Having a unhealthy lifestyle, to the point of judgement from your family (Age: 17-now)

- Having weird & niche interests (Age: 17-now)

- Those you went to school with not really being your friends as they didn't invite you to events a lot (Age: 17-now)

- Having no talents (Age: 20-now)

- Having intense interests (Age: 20-now)

- Your family & relatives judging you for your poor lifestyle & screen addiction (Age: 15-now)

- Your family & teachers pressuring you to have life figured out between the ages of 13-18 years old (Age: 20-now)

- Doing basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing etc.) (Age: 13-now)

- Learning math's, English, grammar etc. later than everyone else (Age: 13-now. This one is so bad that in year 6, i had to reuse year 5 books)

- You getting taken advantage of by your family & those at school (Age: 11-now)

- Your family knowing everything about you, but don't want to tell you cause your "simple" and "will never understand" (Age: 13-now)

- Finally, your family & relatives judging & viewing you as a burden for everything that I've listed (Age: 13-now)

I know I shouldn't be typing this cause most of it is private, & I apologize for making this long, but a lot of autistic girls that I went to school with, both early, late & undiagnosed, didn't go through what I've listed, which makes me feel left out sometimes & cause I'm the stereotype of autism (except that I'm a woman). I also fear (along with my family) that I'll be a bigger burden to my family if both my parents die due to my support needs & lazy lifestyle, despite them telling me constantly that I had a good childhood & adolescence. I want to know if there's anyone out there that are like me in any way.

Hi, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want to know if any autistic person has discovered one of the following that I've been through late (I will list what age I did and discovered them at & some of these may or may not be related to autism. Also, you don't have to answer all of them as this is a very lengthy list):

- Tying shoes late (Age: 11-12)

- Doing your hair on your own (Age: 11-12, but I started doing it at the age of 22-23)

- Using the toilet on your own (Age: 4-11. I unfortunately couldn't go on any school excursions for that reason)

- Using the bath & shower on your own (Age: 10-13. I also couldn't go on excursions for that reason)

- Your family & loved ones knowing that you wouldn't succeed & do things on your own either due to level support needs or other co conditions (e.g. vocational education) (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family & loved ones trying to make you more active, healthy & social, but you preferred to be in your own little world, addicted to screens and/or a loner (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family trying desperately & frustratingly to help you with your homework despite your forgetfulness, lack of focus, lack of interest & "simple mind" (Age: 16-now)

- You not being able to stand up for yourself (Age: 5-now)

- Starting school late (Age: 10-11. I had to go to preschool in 2008-2009 & to primary school in 2010 due to my poor learning & motor skills)

- Putting on your clothes (Age: 9-11)

- Being unintentionally and/or intentionally aggressive & violent to your loved ones, minor or major (Age: 11-now)

- Having a unhealthy lifestyle, to the point of judgement from your family (Age: 17-now)

- Having weird & niche interests (Age: 17-now)

- Those you went to school with not really being your friends as they didn't invite you to events a lot (Age: 17-now)

- Having no talents (Age: 20-now)

- Having intense interests (Age: 20-now)

- Your family & relatives judging you for your poor lifestyle & screen addiction (Age: 15-now)

- Your family & teachers pressuring you to have life figured out between the ages of 13-18 years old (Age: 20-now)

- Doing basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing etc.) (Age: 13-now)

- Learning math's, English, grammar etc. later than everyone else (Age: 13-now. This one is so bad that in year 6, i had to reuse year 5 books)

- You getting taken advantage of by your family & those at school (Age: 11-now)

- Your family knowing everything about you, but don't want to tell you cause your "simple" and "will never understand" (Age: 13-now)

- Finally, your family & relatives judging & viewing you as a burden for everything that I've listed (Age: 13-now)

I know I shouldn't be typing this cause most of it is private, & I apologize for making this long, but a lot of autistic girls that I went to school with, both early, late & undiagnosed, didn't go through what I've listed, which makes me feel left out sometimes & cause I'm the stereotype of autism (except that I'm a woman). I also fear (along with my family) that I'll be a bigger burden to my family if both my parents die due to my support needs & lazy lifestyle, despite them telling me constantly that I had a good childhood & adolescence. I want to know if there's anyone out there that are like me in any way.

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23 year old autistic & intellectually disabled woman with moderate to high support needs and I need some tips and experiences on one of the following, both related to autism and not related to it. Take as long as you like with your answers & you don't have to answer all of them:

a.) I've literally started journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling for the first time late last year (December 2025) and mostly this year as no joke, I did not do any of it during my childhood & adolescence as I was constantly being a loner & screen addicted whilst navigating school. Is it too late to start journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling this year?

b.) I've been seeing it all over the internet lately, but many autistic girls & women have gone on saying that they had loads of friends during their time at high school, either early diagnosed, late diagnosed or undiagnosed. I was not one of them as not only did I not have any friends, I preferred being alone, being a loner, being in my own little world, being addicted to screens & looking at niche & sometimes inappropriate stuff (to the point of jokes, mockery & judgement from my siblings), all after school, on weekends and on holidays. Is there anyone out there that has been through & still goes through with it all to this day? I was mainly this as I got burnt-out pretty easily from socializing and both masking and unmasking.

c.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I've been constantly telling & having mental breakdowns to my parents that I wish to go back to the past & have friends, be social & participate in stuff as I've realized at a late age that despite me preferring to be alone on my phone & tablet in my room as I was happy back then, I've realized that I didn't do much back then & wasted my teenage years, despite being told by my mother that I didn't waste them at all whatsoever. The reason I added this is cause my poor parents & siblings tried to get me to participate in stuff in fear of me being isolated (which I already am & they knew & have correctly predicted), but my mother keeps telling me that I had a good life as this is what I wanted to do & this is who I am, to which she is correct, but I still want your thoughts. Nowadays, It's too late for a person my age to participate in most stuff, & I'm constantly judged by my family & relatives for this (to the point of them sometimes saying "We tried telling you, but you didn't listen & had no interest," "Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself," "I'm worried about you," "I don't want you to be an even bigger burden" & "I knew that It would happen, but I was never going to tell you at the time"). Did anyone experience this & what advice do you have as my parents are constantly & rightfully telling me to stop going back to the past as I'm making myself & my anxiety worse (physically & mentally).

d.) Did anyone start school late as if I wasn't disabled, I would've started kindergarten in 2009, but I couldn't as I had trouble learning & had abysmal motor skills, which promoted me to do preschool in 2008-2009 and start school in 2010 due to my conditions. Anyone else out there like me that went through this?

e.) Did anyone else's "friends" not remember their birthdays as due to me having no friends, aside from my family, no one remembered my birthday as I had no social media, which promoted me to celebrate it by myself every single year & I constantly told everyone that it was my birthday as I was not in any digital & physical photos. Anyone else been through this as this is one of the worst things I go through every year?

f.) Speaking of social media, did anyone get social media late as due to my conditions, my family did not allow me to have social media between the ages of 11-13 years. All the cool kids (including my siblings) got social media between those ages, whereas I got Snapchat at 13-14, Instagram at 14-15, Facebook & Messenger at 18-19, & WhatsApp at 20-21 due to my family not trusting me very much (I unfortunately did not have Vine & Musical.ly back then). Anyone else been through this as no joke, I missed out on everything back in the day (memes, being included on stories & posts etc.).

g.) Did anyone fail to achieve their dreams after graduating school as I myself did as I thought the course I would do would be easy, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Also, did anyone lie to people about their interests, cause i certainly did (e.g. I did art as i daydreamed about a lot of weird stuff (maladaptive & immersive), but it was too hard, complex, I literally can't do it as they always turned out bad & i know nothing about it, & I had no interest in it whatsoever. When I told my family & those I knew the truth & that I'm not doing it anymore, they were disappointed in me as they expected better of me & that I'll be lazy again, which I have been since birth).

h.) Finally, my mother keeps telling me to stop comparing myself to my siblings & those I went to school with as I'll make myself worse physically & mentally. Like I said before, she keeps telling me that I was happy doing my own things, but I'm the black sheep in my family as they're all social, achieved things, have amazing friends & sometimes come back to our home town to see their friends for events, to the point of me getting jealous. Any tips & advice for what to do about this & if anyone's been through this?

I know that what I've listed shouldn't really be posted publicly cause it's private, but I've been feeling anxious about it all as I've realized & discovered things late (also want to know if everything that I've listed is the meaning for the term 'Late Bloomer') & am constantly comparing myself to those successful than me. As you can see, I have the common stereotypes of autism (being a loner, not being smart, not like other girls, lacking & wasting talents, being passive & passive-aggressive, obliviousness etc.), but I still want to know if there are people out there that have been through what I've listed.

Hi, I'm a 22 turning 23F and I want to know if any autistic person has discovered one of the following that I've been through late (I will list what age I did and discovered them at & some of these may or may not be related to autism. Also, you don't have to answer all of them as this is a very lengthy list):

- Tying shoes late (Age: 11-12)

- Doing your hair on your own (Age: 11-12, but I started doing it at the age of 22-23)

- Using the toilet on your own (Age: 4-11. I unfortunately couldn't go on any school excursions for that reason)

- Using the bath & shower on your own (Age: 10-13. I also couldn't go on excursions for that reason)

- Your family & loved ones knowing that you wouldn't succeed & do things on your own either due to level support needs or other co conditions (e.g. vocational education) (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family & loved ones trying to make you more active, healthy & social, but you preferred to be in your own little world, addicted to screens and/or a loner (Age: 16-now)

- Your poor family trying desperately & frustratingly to help you with your homework despite your forgetfulness, lack of focus, lack of interest & "simple mind" (Age: 16-now)

- You not being able to stand up for yourself (Age: 5-now)

- Starting school late (Age: 10-11. I had to go to preschool in 2008-2009 & to primary school in 2010 due to my poor learning & motor skills)

- Putting on your clothes (Age: 9-11)

- Being unintentionally and/or intentionally aggressive & violent to your loved ones, minor or major (Age: 11-now)

- Having a unhealthy lifestyle, to the point of judgement from your family (Age: 17-now)

- Having weird & niche interests (Age: 17-now)

- Those you went to school with not really being your friends as they didn't invite you to events a lot (Age: 17-now)

- Having no talents (Age: 20-now)

- Having intense interests (Age: 20-now)

- Your family & relatives judging you for your poor lifestyle & screen addiction (Age: 15-now)

- Your family & teachers pressuring you to have life figured out between the ages of 13-18 years old (Age: 20-now)

- Doing basic tasks (e.g. making beds, vacuuming, washing the dishes, ironing etc.) (Age: 13-now)

- Learning math's, English, grammar etc. later than everyone else (Age: 13-now. This one is so bad that in year 6, i had to reuse year 5 books)

- You getting taken advantage of by your family & those at school (Age: 11-now)

- Your family knowing everything about you, but don't want to tell you cause your "simple" and "will never understand" (Age: 13-now)

- Finally, your family & relatives judging & viewing you as a burden for everything that I've listed (Age: 13-now)

I know I shouldn't be typing this cause most of it is private, & I apologize for making this long, but a lot of autistic girls that I went to school with, both early, late & undiagnosed, didn't go through what I've listed, which makes me feel left out sometimes & cause I'm the stereotype of autism (except that I'm a woman). I also fear (along with my family) that I'll be a bigger burden to my family if both my parents die due to my support needs & lazy lifestyle, despite them telling me constantly that I had a good childhood & adolescence. I want to know if there's anyone out there that are like me in any way.

Hello, I'm a 22F turning 23 this year and I, no joke, starting journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling for the first time ever in December 2025 & as of this year. I've never journaled, scrapbooked & junk journaled in my childhood and adolescent years as I wasted them to being lazy & isolated, being a loner & being alone, being on phones, tablets and other technology (doom scrolling & unhealthy screentime), looking at weird, niche and often inappropriate websites & videos, daydreaming (maladaptive & immersive), watching cartoons (mainly niche ones) instead of real shows & movies, disappointing my family, being a bully & getting bullied, and I have bad social anxiety, to the point of no friends (like ever), no talents & wasting them, no part-time/casual jobs and not participating in anything during my school years. I started journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling as I've realized it helps with my mental health and releases all the trauma that's been in my mind and that I've been through throughout my life, and that it's fun & creative as I was very creative when I was a child (7-12). I wished that I'd done something like this a long time ago as due to my disabilities (autism & intellectual disability) and mental health issues, I was going through a lot of things, to the point of staying up late (which I still do to this day, much to the concern of my parents & the rest of my family) and not concentrating and caring about school & work (which lead to back marks on my reports & massive disappointment from my family & teachers due to my screen addictions). The way I do my journaling is one of the following:

- I write about my problems in sections, with colored top corners on pages to indicate the start and end of the topic and pages, & whatever color that I use means for certain topics

- On somedays when I don't feel like writing topics, I may write down either my mental health problems, make collage pages, make sticker pages etc.

- At the end of every month, I write down how my month has been. I also write down at the end of the year how my year has been.

- On my notes app, I type a title of the topic with a tick box next to it to indicate that I've completed it, & I type what I want to put in my booklets before writing it all down. I'm also planning on redoing the topics again in the future as everyone knows, thing change either for good or bad.

I want to know If it's too late to start journaling in 2026 as I feel like I started at a late age and I've looked online that people started journaling way back then (you know, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, between 2020-2024, you get the idea). I also want to know if there's any right or wrong way to journal as I feel like I'm doing journaling wrong.

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23 year old autistic & intellectually disabled woman with moderate to high support needs and I need some tips and experiences on one of the following, both related to autism and not related to it. Take as long as you like with your answers & you don't have to answer all of them:

a.) I've literally started journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling for the first time late last year (December 2025) and mostly this year as no joke, I did not do any of it during my childhood & adolescence as I was constantly being a loner & screen addicted whilst navigating school. Is it too late to start journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling this year?

b.) I've been seeing it all over the internet lately, but many autistic girls & women have gone on saying that they had loads of friends during their time at high school, either early diagnosed, late diagnosed or undiagnosed. I was not one of them as not only did I not have any friends, I preferred being alone, being a loner, being in my own little world, being addicted to screens & looking at niche & sometimes inappropriate stuff (to the point of jokes, mockery & judgement from my siblings), all after school, on weekends and on holidays. Is there anyone out there that has been through & still goes through with it all to this day? I was mainly this as I got burnt-out pretty easily from socializing and both masking and unmasking.

c.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I've been constantly telling & having mental breakdowns to my parents that I wish to go back to the past & have friends, be social & participate in stuff as I've realized at a late age that despite me preferring to be alone on my phone & tablet in my room as I was happy back then, I've realized that I didn't do much back then & wasted my teenage years, despite being told by my mother that I didn't waste them at all whatsoever. The reason I added this is cause my poor parents & siblings tried to get me to participate in stuff in fear of me being isolated (which I already am & they knew & have correctly predicted), but my mother keeps telling me that I had a good life as this is what I wanted to do & this is who I am, to which she is correct, but I still want your thoughts. Nowadays, It's too late for a person my age to participate in most stuff, & I'm constantly judged by my family & relatives for this (to the point of them sometimes saying "We tried telling you, but you didn't listen & had no interest," "Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself," "I'm worried about you," "I don't want you to be an even bigger burden" & "I knew that It would happen, but I was never going to tell you at the time"). Did anyone experience this & what advice do you have as my parents are constantly & rightfully telling me to stop going back to the past as I'm making myself & my anxiety worse (physically & mentally).

d.) Did anyone start school late as if I wasn't disabled, I would've started kindergarten in 2009, but I couldn't as I had trouble learning & had abysmal motor skills, which promoted me to do preschool in 2008-2009 and start school in 2010 due to my conditions. Anyone else out there like me that went through this?

e.) Did anyone else's "friends" not remember their birthdays as due to me having no friends, aside from my family, no one remembered my birthday as I had no social media, which promoted me to celebrate it by myself every single year & I constantly told everyone that it was my birthday as I was not in any digital & physical photos. Anyone else been through this as this is one of the worst things I go through every year?

f.) Speaking of social media, did anyone get social media late as due to my conditions, my family did not allow me to have social media between the ages of 11-13 years. All the cool kids (including my siblings) got social media between those ages, whereas I got Snapchat at 13-14, Instagram at 14-15, Facebook & Messenger at 18-19, & WhatsApp at 20-21 due to my family not trusting me very much (I unfortunately did not have Vine & Musical.ly back then). Anyone else been through this as no joke, I missed out on everything back in the day (memes, being included on stories & posts etc.).

g.) Did anyone fail to achieve their dreams after graduating school as I myself did as I thought the course I would do would be easy, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Also, did anyone lie to people about their interests, cause i certainly did (e.g. I did art as i daydreamed about a lot of weird stuff (maladaptive & immersive), but it was too hard, complex, I literally can't do it as they always turned out bad & i know nothing about it, & I had no interest in it whatsoever. When I told my family & those I knew the truth & that I'm not doing it anymore, they were disappointed in me as they expected better of me & that I'll be lazy again, which I have been since birth).

h.) Finally, my mother keeps telling me to stop comparing myself to my siblings & those I went to school with as I'll make myself worse physically & mentally. Like I said before, she keeps telling me that I was happy doing my own things, but I'm the black sheep in my family as they're all social, achieved things, have amazing friends & sometimes come back to our home town to see their friends for events, to the point of me getting jealous. Any tips & advice for what to do about this & if anyone's been through this?

I know that what I've listed shouldn't really be posted publicly cause it's private, but I've been feeling anxious about it all as I've realized & discovered things late (also want to know if everything that I've listed is the meaning for the term 'Late Bloomer') & am constantly comparing myself to those successful than me. As you can see, I have the common stereotypes of autism (being a loner, not being smart, not like other girls, lacking & wasting talents, being passive & passive-aggressive, obliviousness etc.), but I still want to know if there are people out there that have been through what I've listed.

Hello, I'm a 22 turning 23 year old autistic & intellectually disabled woman with moderate to high support needs and I need some tips and experiences on one of the following, both related to autism and not related to it. Take as long as you like with your answers & you don't have to answer all of them:

a.) I've literally started journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling for the first time late last year (December 2025) and mostly this year as no joke, I did not do any of it during my childhood & adolescence as I was constantly being a loner & screen addicted whilst navigating school. Is it too late to start journaling, scrapbooking & junk journaling this year?

b.) I've been seeing it all over the internet lately, but many autistic girls & women have gone on saying that they had loads of friends during their time at high school, either early diagnosed, late diagnosed or undiagnosed. I was not one of them as not only did I not have any friends, I preferred being alone, being a loner, being in my own little world, being addicted to screens & looking at niche & sometimes inappropriate stuff (to the point of jokes, mockery & judgement from my siblings), all after school, on weekends and on holidays. Is there anyone out there that has been through & still goes through with it all to this day? I was mainly this as I got burnt-out pretty easily from socializing and both masking and unmasking.

c.) Similar to the abovementioned (sort of), I've been constantly telling & having mental breakdowns to my parents that I wish to go back to the past & have friends, be social & participate in stuff as I've realized at a late age that despite me preferring to be alone on my phone & tablet in my room as I was happy back then, I've realized that I didn't do much back then & wasted my teenage years, despite being told by my mother that I didn't waste them at all whatsoever. The reason I added this is cause my poor parents & siblings tried to get me to participate in stuff in fear of me being isolated (which I already am & they knew & have correctly predicted), but my mother keeps telling me that I had a good life as this is what I wanted to do & this is who I am, to which she is correct, but I still want your thoughts. Nowadays, It's too late for a person my age to participate in most stuff, & I'm constantly judged by my family & relatives for this (to the point of them sometimes saying "We tried telling you, but you didn't listen & had no interest," "Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself," "I'm worried about you," "I don't want you to be an even bigger burden" & "I knew that It would happen, but I was never going to tell you at the time"). Did anyone experience this & what advice do you have as my parents are constantly & rightfully telling me to stop going back to the past as I'm making myself & my anxiety worse (physically & mentally).

d.) Did anyone start school late as if I wasn't disabled, I would've started kindergarten in 2009, but I couldn't as I had trouble learning & had abysmal motor skills, which promoted me to do preschool in 2008-2009 and start school in 2010 due to my conditions. Anyone else out there like me that went through this?

e.) Did anyone else's "friends" not remember their birthdays as due to me having no friends, aside from my family, no one remembered my birthday as I had no social media, which promoted me to celebrate it by myself every single year & I constantly told everyone that it was my birthday as I was not in any digital & physical photos. Anyone else been through this as this is one of the worst things I go through every year?

f.) Speaking of social media, did anyone get social media late as due to my conditions, my family did not allow me to have social media between the ages of 11-13 years. All the cool kids (including my siblings) got social media between those ages, whereas I got Snapchat at 13-14, Instagram at 14-15, Facebook & Messenger at 18-19, & WhatsApp at 20-21 due to my family not trusting me very much (I unfortunately did not have Vine & Musical.ly back then). Anyone else been through this as no joke, I missed out on everything back in the day (memes, being included on stories & posts etc.).

g.) Did anyone fail to achieve their dreams after graduating school as I myself did as I thought the course I would do would be easy, but it turned out to be the complete opposite. Also, did anyone lie to people about their interests, cause i certainly did (e.g. I did art as i daydreamed about a lot of weird stuff (maladaptive & immersive), but it was too hard, complex, I literally can't do it as they always turned out bad & i know nothing about it, & I had no interest in it whatsoever. When I told my family & those I knew the truth & that I'm not doing it anymore, they were disappointed in me as they expected better of me & that I'll be lazy again, which I have been since birth).

h.) Finally, my mother keeps telling me to stop comparing myself to my siblings & those I went to school with as I'll make myself worse physically & mentally. Like I said before, she keeps telling me that I was happy doing my own things, but I'm the black sheep in my family as they're all social, achieved things, have amazing friends & sometimes come back to our home town to see their friends for events, to the point of me getting jealous. Any tips & advice for what to do about this & if anyone's been through this?

I know that what I've listed shouldn't really be posted publicly cause it's private, but I've been feeling anxious about it all as I've realized & discovered things late (also want to know if everything that I've listed is the meaning for the term 'Late Bloomer') & am constantly comparing myself to those successful than me. As you can see, I have the common stereotypes of autism (being a loner, not being smart, not like other girls, lacking & wasting talents, being passive & passive-aggressive, obliviousness etc.), but I still want to know if there are people out there that have been through what I've listed.

Hello, I'm a 22F turning 23 this year and I, no joke, starting journaling for the first time ever in December 2025. I've never journaled in my childhood and adolescent years as I wasted them to being lazy, being on phones, tablets and other technology (doom scrolling), looking at weird, niche and often inappropriate websites & videos, daydreaming, watching cartoons instead of real shows & movies, bullying and I have bad social anxiety, to the point of no friends (like ever), no talents, no part-time/casual jobs and not participating in anything during my school years. I started journaling as I've realized it helps with my mental health and releases all the trauma that's been in my mind and that I've been through throughout my life. I wished that I'd done something like this a long time ago as due to my disabilities (autism & intellectual disability) and mental health issues, I was going through a lot of things, to the point of staying up late and not concentrating and caring about school & work (which lead to back marks on my reports). The way I do my journaling is one of the following:

- I write about my problems in sections, with colored top corners on pages to indicate the start and end of the topic and pages

- On somedays when I don't feel like writing topics, I may write down either my mental health problems, make collage pages, make sticker pages etc.

- At the end of every month, I write down how my month has been. I also write down at the end of the year how my year has been.

I want to know If it's too late to start journaling in 2026 as I feel like I started at a late age and I've looked online that people started journaling way back then (you know, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s, 2010s, between 2020-2024, you get the idea). I also want to know if there's any right or wrong way to journal as I feel like I'm doing journaling wrong.

(Note: This is my first ever post on Reddit. So please forgive me for making this post long as like I said before, this is my very first time using Reddit like, ever)