This morning I listened to Episode 1 of the new season of the Late Discovered Club podcast, where I was very honoured to be the guest. We only recorded a month or so ago but, listening back this morning, it was incredible to hear how much my thinking has moved on in some areas.
Catherine has been a really pivotal part of my autism journey, and I’m not sure she realises how many lives she is changing. Emma Offord
, who assessed me and has become a wonderful friend, colleague and fount of neurotype knowledge and support, directed me to Catherine’s Circle community. That was my first experience of being in a group of women - late discovered autistic women, many of whom had very similar experiences to me - where we learned from each other’s experiences and in many ways gave each other permission to explore our newly discovered needs and ways of operating. There were numerous lightbulb moments in those conversations. And Catherine’s podcast, telling the varied stories of autistic women, helped me to piece my own story together.There are lots of details, of course, that are not on the podcast. That was my first experience of talking really as my whole self, not just Dr Emma Svanberg, but Emma - without my professional ‘mask’ on. It was both wonderful, and terrifying. Of course there will be (big) parts of my experience that I will always keep private, that I wanted to acknowledge too here to ensure there isn’t a danger of creating a sort of toxic positivity around my autism identification. It hasn’t always been pretty. But all the new discoveries I’m making in this stage of my life, it feels almost imperative to share them - both because I’ve appreciated so much hearing from others on their autistic discovery journeys - and also because I am proud of being autistic and the things that has enabled me to do because of my autism.
I just wanted to use this space to say thank you - to Catherine, to Emma, to the other people who have helped me to learn and grow.
There are people in the world who quietly change lives and they deserve to be acknowledged.