Late Autism Diagnosis? Here's What Masking & Hypervigilance Feel Like!

[@OneAutisticPerson]

What has your experience been with traits like masking or hypervigilance?

[@KerryMonluna]

Wow - this was really enlightening, I catastrophise all the time but didn't really think about it or how I can manage it, thank you for this and your other videos, I have just come across them a few days ago and I can't stop watching them!

[@jeaninen75]

I wish I could understand me more. I wish I could get diagnosed properly so I could maybe understand myself better.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

A diagnosis just confirms what you already, likely know. Honestly, my diagnosis just confirmed a lot of things I had already worked out about myself and I learnt most of it from people on KZbin and then researched it even more myself. Do worry about getting a diagnosis of you're unable to, keep watching autistic KZbinrs, there is such a wealth of knowledge out there and so much honesty from so many, you can really learn a lot about yourself 😀

[@aletasdreams]

Wow. Okay. Thank you. I have a fairly long list of times I blew my own mind being the level headed and unruffled person during an actually very bad situation. While a part of me seemed to be observing it all from a safe distance. The people around me seemed to freeze or just not have any ideas. I would sometimes break down afterwards and shake out the stress. Meanwhile, I am a jumpy, hypervigilant, ball of nerves on a daily basis.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

It's a fascinating realisation. The comparison between everyday experience and then when under stressful situations is night and day, we can potentially tap into this kind of superpower (while it is needed).

[@RachelRuth-b9d]

I catastrophise all the time, I hadn't thought about it from a hypervigilance point of view and it makes sense that this would play a part in me spiralling in these situations 😮

[@OneAutisticPerson]

I am glad the video was helpful - it was very interesting to research.

[@AutisticUnfiltered]

I watched this soon after you released it and I wanted to give myself time to think about it (delayed processing). A trend I’ve noticed over the last few years is for people to self-diagnose PTSD, often citing childhood trauma. That may be true for some, or even for many, but there is another alternative. OCD. Like autism, OCD is suffering from people who don’t do their homework. I’ve seen a predictable belief that some think OCD is all about opening and closing doors three times, or checking the iron is off even if it hasn’t been used for a week. Both are possible, but that reductionist view is also limiting and unhelpful. At their core, autism is about how we view the world. OCD is about how we react to it. There are potentially many crossovers, so that isn’t clear cut. From memory, 1.5% of non-autistic people have OCD. Autistic people experience it at 17% - 37% on the OCD spectrum. I’m not for a moment suggesting some autistic people haven’t experienced traumatic events. I know I have. But do they lead to PTSD? They might, or they might not. The fear filters may be present because OCD is. Catastrophising and hyper-vigilance fall well inside the OCD spectrum. Just a thought. I hope it’s useful to others who may have similar questions. I really enjoy your channel. You have a very personable style.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

Hi, Thank you for responding and I 100% agree. I think OCD is often a comorbid condition with autism, probably more than we think and more than the official figures. I think your explanation of autism being how we view the world and OCD being a way we react to it is a really insightful observation of it (I may steal that for a video I am currently researching regarding comorbid mental health conditions and neurodivergency - I will credit you if it's OK to quote you? 😀). Thank you for sharing your experience and views and thank you for the compliment, it means a lot to me to know what I am doing, people are enjoying.

[@AutisticUnfiltered]

@@OneAutisticPerson You may want to check your spam folder. I just sent you a few pages that may be useful. I'll repeat here, for anyone passing by, that your channel is a gem just waiting to be unearthed.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

It did go in my spam... it definitely is not! Thank you so much for all the really great research information. It is going to be really helpful for the video. I may take some time to respond to the email (I'm not being rude, just processing capacity - go figure haha) but I will respond, I promise.

[@MVance-k9p]

Calmness in an emergency is interesting. I go from hyper awareness of everything to calm and focused in an emergency. The hyper focus makes my world smaller and easier to manage.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

It's interesting isn't it. I never thought about it until I read about it, then thought back and realised I definitely fit the description. Do you almost feel a calmness flow over you in emergencies?

[@MVance-k9p]

@@OneAutisticPerson Absolute calm. As if the world suddenly became simple and manageable. Maybe something to do with adrenalin regulating focus or a type of filtering.

[@elkewollenberg7789]

You talk about hyper vigilance and small changes in the environment that can be distracting. So, isn't that changing light in the corner counterproductive? I have to put a lot of effort into listening.

[@OneAutisticPerson]

That's a really good point, thank you for letting me know - I will change that as I hadn't thought of it that way. It makes the point of what I talk about a lot in my videos, we all have different sensory experiences, and what is positive for one person is not for another. I had put that there, as when I have watched other KZbinrs in the past, it helped me concentrate, and also, they help me concentrate during recording videos as those lights balance the sensory load in my brain - something about the changing keeping my mind going I think. Thank you again, I really appreciate you telling me that as I would never have thought about it otherwise.