I posted about this on Instagram but I wanted to write something for here too.

On 5^th August, it was the two-year anniversary of my Autism diagnosis and I decided that I wanted to celebrate it. It was already a really busy day with Brighton Pride and the birthday of one of my best friends but when I got home, I had cake with my family. Me and my Mum made a chocolate cake together and stuck a little sign on top that said ‘Happy Diagnosis Day!’

I’m not sure whether I’ll ever be able to celebrate actually being autistic – there are still so many things that I’m struggling with – but I did like celebrating this day because getting the diagnosis was a really big deal. I finally got some answers to the questions I’d been asking my entire life. For years, I’d struggled with this unknown thing, not understanding why I couldn’t seem to function as well as everyone else. It felt like I was broken. And getting the ASD diagnosis changed that. It explained things I hadn’t been able to understand and it gave me a place to start when looking for support. Suddenly this massive, intangible thing I was wrestling with started to make sense.

It’s not perfect and it’s not easy but this date represents an end to that chapter of my life and the beginning of a new one, hopefully a better one. And I think that’s worth celebrating.