In preschool, I ran circles around my classmates.
“Here’s the stack of novels she’s read today.” The teachers would indicate a large stack of books in kindergarten in first grade to my mother.“Here’s the amount of classwork she’s done.” A stack of uncompleted worksheets.
I thought the psychiatrist’s questions were rather pointless. His condescending manner struck me even as a young child. I couldn’t express it in words, so I bit and threw anything I could at him. By the first grade he had given me diagnoses of Oppositional Defiant Disorder, ADHD, and anxiety.
Age 14: I am diagnosed as autistic alongside those.
Age 16: depression.
Throughout: Social skills work. Therapy. Psychiatrists. Medications.
My life has been a cocktail of medications prescribed as diagnoses tacked on each other. My body and brain rejected many of them. Some altered my mood dramatically; others made me…
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Autism Candles 