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For those of us who have been formally diagnosed and/or have done the work of self-diagnosing, doubt can wreck havoc on our understanding of ourselves. You see, Autism makes our lives make sense. Though the lens of understanding how our Autistic traits have contributed to every single thing that we've ever done, felt, and thought, we can now understand ourselves better. If we start to doubt our diagnosis because of impostor syndrome (yes, most of us have that), then our lives start to not make sense or we start to blame ourselves or attribute motivation/intent that isn't true such as laziness or maliciousness. I am here to say that understanding our lives through the lens of Autism helps us have true compassion for ourselves and what we've been through and continue to go through. Context is important to understanding anything, Autism included. How can we understand the choices we've made, the problems we've encountered without understanding what our lived experiences have been in the context of Autism. It can lead us to blame ourselves for missing social cues and say it was willful instead of part of our neurology. It skews who we believe ourselves to be. Understanding how Autism has impacted every facet of our lives requires that we keep peeling back the layers. We may need to revisit past judgements about ourselves with fresh eyes and a deeper compassion for our past Autistic selves. We didn't know what we know now. We did have the support we needed.
Keywords: Autistic therapist online California
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