As I approach my mid 50’s, It appears that some of my autistic symptoms are taking a greater hold of my life.
I find that I have to work much harder to be aware of my surroundings, and being organised takes a lot more effort. Everyday tasks such as remembering my keys or paying bills on time now requires more concentration than it used to. Staying connected to my surroundings is also much harder. It feels llike a slow slide into a less functionally able life.
I have even considered whether early onset dementia is responsible for this! Probably not. But it does raise the question of how autism combines with symptoms of the ageing process and our natural tendency to slow down as we get older. It may be quite normal for the brains Executive functionality to decrease with age; This affects our ability to plan ahead, get organised and process information. These are difficulties also associated with autism
In my opinion, the double whammy effect of this, is bound to create extra difficulties for us older
autisics.
I haven’t seen much on the way of research on this specific subject. This is probably because of the relative newness of Autistic Spectrum Disorder. But as diagnosed autism in older adults becomes a much greater issue, it’s time for science to take a good hard look at this, and for health care professionals to become more aware and provide solutions.
just read your blog and watched one of your videos found it very helpful in helping me to understand some of the difficulties I`ve had both growing up and in my adult life. I AM 39 years old and always felt there was something affecting me but wasn`t sure what but over the past 6 months various people have asked me if I`d ever been assessed for autism so I decided to research it and found that I identified a lot of the signs of autism but getting my doctor to send me for assessment is proving difficult as he says its just anxiety and depression. I have an appointment with a psychiatrist next week and my GP said unless he suggests I be refered for asessment he will not send me . this is so frustrating. I just wanted to say thank you for posting the blog and videos, I