Connect With Me

I have disabilities, most of which were not diagnosed until later in my life. I was diagnosed with Autism in 2018 and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) combined with impulsive hyperactive and inattentive type in 2017. 

As part of my Autism diagnosis, in 2018, under the supervision of an adult education psychologist, I completed the four subtests of the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI).  This assessment was a formally certified EP-certified intelligence test.  This test concluded that I have gifted verbal intelligence – 97% of the population would score less than I did on that verbal intelligence test.  My performance intelligence is lower than my verbal intelligence (but still way above average), which is unusual and is an anomaly often found in people who are autistic.  Overall, my intelligence is ‘superior’, and I am within the top 8% of the population.  I didn’t do very well at school, so I found this very surprising, to say the least. 

Also, as part of my Autism diagnosis, I was assessed by an occupational therapist, who told me that I have severe sensory processing dysregulation.  I am Agoraphobic, and this has been constant throughout my adult life.  More recently, I have come to understand that this is very closely connected to my severe sensory processing dysregulation and Autism – that is, going out and being bombarded with sensory overload, particularly in London, caused me to dysregulate and become really anxious – to have debilitating panic attacks.  This ‘agoraphobia’ was certainly constant throughout my life, and it started when I was 13-14.

I also have visual and spatial processing difficulties and auditory and language processing difficulties.  I have issues with Praxis, which is about motor planning and coordination, and I have Arthritis.

I have unilateral sensorineural hearing loss in my left ear, which is severe and profound (requiring a hearing aid).  This has been the situation for me since birth.  I actually don’t like wearing a hearing aid for sensory reasons, and I rely more on lip reading.  I have moderate to severe restricted field of vision loss as a consequence of Optic Nerve Drusen.

I don’t drink alcohol, and I haven’t drunk alcohol in over 14 years.  Alcohol doesn’t agree with me because I have impulsive, hyperactive ADHD, and anything which inhibits my capacity to control my impulses is a really terrible idea for someone like me.  I loved alcohol, but it didn’t love me back, so I don’t drink it anymore.  Some people should not drink it, and I am, without question, definitely one of those people. 

I am a recovered ‘anorexic and bulimic,’ and in my teens, I was an inpatient in various hospital inpatient treatment programmes.  None of these worked very well because my issues with food were also sensory and not really related to ‘self-image’ or how I looked at all.  The treatment made my sensory issues with food much worse.  However, I got over that in the end using a twelve-step programme.  I say ‘got over it’, well I am not a ‘normal eater’ and I never will be, but I am no longer chronically underweight or making myself sick six times per day, and this has been true for over 25 years.  So in my view, this is ‘recovered’.  Do I eat three meals per day?  No!