Diagnosis at 30, Magic Years in Her 50s
April 25, 2008 by Kristina Chew, PhD
Filed under Health
Organic brain disorder, brain-injured, multiply handicapped, aggressive personality disorder, and borderline personality disorder: 51-year-old Anne Carpenter received all of these labels before being diagnosed with high-functioning autism at the age of 30. Read her story in today’s Lansing State Journal; you can contact Anne via email here. Says Carpenter, who now runs the library at the Autism Society of Michigan in Lansing’s Old Town.:
“I’ve gotten happier over the years because I know what I’m made of now,” she said. “I’m a better person and I feel like I can handle anything. I’m enjoying life more.
“In fact, I think the 50s are turning out to be my magic years.”
Getting better all the time, no?
That’s good. It can only be done through self-acceptance, without a doubt.
I was 30 when receiving a diagnosis of Asperger’s. My reaction: conflicted, bitter, thrilled, confused, relieved, angry, amorphous, circular, pulchritudinous, hebetudinous, shibbolethic, open, clear, wooden, verdant, black and blue. Far from happy. Close to fulfilled.
One thing I can say now is that most of the problems in my life were not due to AS…they were due to the ignorance of it. All of the confusion, lack of understanding: those were the source of the “issues”…the weeds around a thick, strong little root. So, no matter when you get a diagnosis…the subsequent de-weeding can’t help but change the foliage. It’s a catalyst for growth.
This comment brought to you by: M’s thesaurus and love of bad metaphor.
Knowing what makes you tick can be empowering and it seems to have been the case with this woman. I grew up doing some funky stuff that I never understood (rocking in front of the tv watching cartoons…as a teen!). When I learned I was a fragile x carrier and they have issues too it was a total aha! moment. I was better able to accept my eccentricities and embrace who I was. Knowledge and acceptance can go a long way
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Thanks for sharing her story.
de-weeding, pulchritudinous, hebetudinous—–words and metaphors to reflect on; I like the (self) de-weeding analogy in particular.
It’s wonderful that Anne was able to become happier in part to knowing/finding out what she was “made of.” I think that’s the case for a lot of people regarding mental/brain health. And, like “M” said in the comment above, problems are often due to the ignorance of the condition. How are you supposed to manage something you’re not aware of? Once you are aware of it, you can properly manage it and live life to the fullest. Go Anne!
OK, the article has a pic of her next to a giant poster that instructs us to label jars and not people.
But the article goes on and on about how she felt so much better after she got the label.
I don’t get it.
It isn’t the label that is important — it’s the understanding that comes from learning more about how you function. If you know how you actually function, you are more likely to be able to identify your strengths and address/deal with your weaknesses. And frankly, most autistic people who grow up without being identified as autistic for a long time end up accumulating numerous (and much less “nice”) labels over time anyway, so having a word that puts things in context without being an insult or a statement of “you are a hopeless case and a bad person besides” can be a relief and can also be freeing rather than limiting.