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As for my diagnosis, it was my parents, specifically my Mom who wanted to seek it out in the hopes that having a formal Autism diagnosis would help get me the support I needed to make it through my schooling experiences. For the most part, it did in terms of academic support, but still the biggest struggle remained for me in finding acceptance amongst my peers and learning how to interact with them. The social interaction part has been something throughout my years that I am continually having to work on in order to make meaningful connections and interact with others, in different experiences. As far as finding acceptance, it really wasn’t until high-school that I was able to connect with other individuals on the spectrum, like myself, and make friends, one of which I still keep connected with. At this point, self-acceptance was still hard for me as I battled comparing myself to others and still felt uncomfortable with anything around Autism or Aspergers (as it was a diagnosis at the time), but upon graduating high-school and entering the first few years of college I was able to truly begin the journey towards self-acceptance. Here, in an Asperger social group my perspective changed from just focusing on the challenges with being Autistic into discovering the strengths that come with being on the spectrum.Things like finding new insights, appreciating my unique way of seeing the world and attention to detail are positive traits, but it’s also given me an opportunity through writing, and most recently speaking, to share my experiences with others and embrace myself as the Autistic blogger for Life on the Spectrum- my passion project. 

So, I suppose having a formal diagnosis has helped not only give me a purpose to share my journey, but in other ways it’s helped me know myself better in that I can understand why certain experiences are challenging, inspired me to keep seeking understanding and growing and over-all have better sense of self-awareness.