What is Late Identified Autism

I offer an interview series called “Late-Identified Autism Interviews.” In it, late-identified autistic individuals share about their experiences of learning they are autistic.

I’m always looking for more autistics to participate in my interview series. Recently, an individual emailed me to say they would be interested in participating, but they weren’t sure what I meant by “late identified.”

I appreciated their frankness, for it’s a term I’ve been using with the assumption that everyone knows what it means.

I consider a person a late-identified autistic when they do not find out they are autistic until adulthood (age 18+).

Why does it matter to have a separate name for this category?

When someone doesn’t know they are autistic until adulthood, it means an individual went their entire childhood without knowing they were autistic. This has profound implications on an individual. Some examples include:

• Feeling they are broken
• Not receiving needed accommodations in school
• Living within a family that does not understand their needs
• Experiencing difficulty socializing
• Not having the skills or tools to work with their autistic minds
• Living with nervous system overload on a daily basis
• Reaching levels of autistic burnout, without knowing the cause