Sara Codina has found that she has autism after thirty years visiting specialists. She was recognized with nervousness, melancholy, social phobia, agoraphobia or consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction. The protagonist assures that the errors are the reason for “ASD diagnostic standards being Too centered on youngsters”
Anxiety, melancholy, social phobia, agoraphobia or consideration deficit hyperactivity dysfunction (ADHD) are a number of the diagnoses that Sara Codina acquired earlier than she discovered, two and a half years in the past, already at 41, that she is definitely autistic, and ” discovering it was like being born once more,” he says in an interview with EFE.
For greater than 30 years, the specialists that Codina, who has simply revealed the e-book “Neurodivina y punto” (Ed. Lunwerg Editores), used to affiliate his signs with episodes of hysteria or melancholy, when, “in actuality, nervousness and melancholy have been penalties of autism spectrum dysfunction (ASD)”.
As defined by Codina, who runs a music college in Barcelona and is the mom of 14-year-old twins, the successive “misdiagnoses” are associated to the truth that “ASD diagnostic standards are too centered on youngsters and this makes assessments in adults tough “.
“Also, just a few years in the past, women have been raised to care and take a again seat, so sure attitudes, like not reciprocating in dialog, which has no direct correlation to being autistic, however might recommend it, weren’t shocking. to professionals,” he says.
After greater than 4 a long time “being autistic with out realizing it”, a “psychiatrist specializing within the affectation of autism in ladies” reviewed the completely different diagnoses that Codina had acquired, studied what her life had been like and really helpful that she get examined to seek out out if he had ASD.
“I felt a spectacular euphoria when, after submitting to the respective checks, observations, interviews and psychological checks, I found what it was that I had. It was like being born once more. It may be very exhausting to know that one thing is mistaken with you and never be capable of outline it, so Sorting out the questions I’ve amassed all through my life was a reduction,” she recollects.
“You don’t cease being autistic, as a result of autism is a neurodevelopmental situation and there’s no treatment, however realizing that you simply endure from it means that you can work on it and ‘unlearn’ behaviors that you’ve got internalized through the years to be taught to construct your life in a more healthy means”, he particulars.
Codina assures {that a} well timed prognosis would have modified her life as a result of “I may have discovered to set limits since I used to be little, to not power myself to need to belong to a bunch, to develop instruments to have vanity or to like myself.”
“If I had recognized earlier than that I used to be autistic, I’d have been in a position to enhance the connection with the atmosphere, since others can not perceive you if you don’t perceive your self.”
“When I defined that I used to be autistic, the individuals round me understood why I used to be making so many ‘smoke bombs,'” alluding to the truth that I’d disappear many instances with out saying something, she laughs.
Now, after receiving the right prognosis and dealing on her situation, she needs to “give a voice to the women who have been there, however weren’t, in order that they are often themselves from a younger age and never 4 a long time later.”
being autistic with out realizing it
During the years that Codina lived with out realizing that he was autistic, he “normalized” behaviors that he now considers “alarming”, reminiscent of suicidal ideas, he felt like “a weirdo” and seen that he “didn’t slot in”, however not realizing what he had prevented him from explaining himself. , though “I wanted it”, and the one factor I may categorical was: “I’m completely different”.
“It was at all times harder for me than the remaining, for instance, to speak in an elevator. The thought that I may discover somebody who may query me made me afraid, in case I repeated myself or made noises once I spoke, and I most popular to go up the steps, even when they have been 30 flooring,” he recollects.
“When I used to be youthful,” she provides, “I did not have the ability that boys normally need to work together with one another, nor did I really feel the necessity to play in a bunch. I did not care in regards to the subjects that women my age talked about and I most popular to find out about, for instance, the corporate, however I did it alone in my home”.
the autism spectrum
Codina states that autism is commonly accompanied by different pathologies reminiscent of ADHD, consuming problems (TCA), mental incapacity, epilepsy, nervousness or melancholy, amongst others, and that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5 ) classifies ASD into three completely different ranges primarily based on the assistance every individual wants throughout their everyday.
In his case, the dysfunction, accompanied by ADHD, reaches stage one – “an autism that, years in the past, was recognized as Asperger syndrome” – and the therapy -medication and therapy- is customized primarily based on “the signs of every stage”.
Codina states that occupational remedy with sensory integration “is crucial to make life simpler for somebody with autism, because it helps to develop methods for hyposensitivity and hypersensitivity, which nearly at all times go hand in hand with autism.”
“In my case,” he remarks, “I endure from auditory hypersensitivity. If I hear a firecracker noise or anticipate it, I run away. I can run and cross a avenue with out on the lookout for automobiles, throw myself on the bottom and cry or faint. I may activate ‘survival mechanisms,’ reminiscent of switching off to the purpose of being unable to reply if known as upon. I lose management of myself.”
assist an autistic individual
Codina emphasizes that the important thing for an autistic individual to determine relationships efficiently is for the individual with ASD to clarify their situation and for his or her interlocutors to “actually hear.”
“Asking can also be necessary. I must anticipate every little thing and earlier than going to a spot I’ll need to know who’s going, how many individuals there shall be and what the place is like, and I’ll rehearse potential conversations in entrance of the mirror. In the identical means, I additionally like that I ask what I want earlier than going to a web site or what I need to know in regards to the plan”, he concludes.