I was diagnosed in late October of 2019. When I was at the hospital getting tested, I didn’t really know what I was being tested for. I remember my mum saying I was getting an autism test but that didn’t mean anything to me, I didn’t understand what autism was. The only part of the test I remember is making up a story from a book with no words, just pictures of a monkey. I remember getting frustrated because I didn’t really understand as I didn’t know what the story was meant to be like.

That same day my mum and I sat down and had a chat about what autism meant. And whilst we did, I started to get upset and question why me? Why do I have to be different? And I didn’t like the idea of not being “normal”. It took me a long time to get to grips with my autism diagnosis. It started while the coronavirus lockdown happened in March 2020, I thought why not google and do my own research on autism. I found out so much that I could connect with and I realised I wasn’t alone . I found some amazing people on Instagram and on Tiktok.