I was just making my way back to respond to your response (sorry, I got delayed fighting with people as per usual)... only to find it's gone and you've deleted it.

I hope you saved it somewhere though, because I was heading back here to tell you that what you'd said was fascinating and you should really turn it into an article. You've got the knowledge and the writing skills to do so - I didn't intend to Penguinsplain mental health to you and I'm glad your diagnosis is exactly what it says on the tin. It's wonderful to get the right diagnosis and always better than having the wrong one.

My work (social work) has often put me in touch with 'autistic' children that aren't the least bit autistic - they're just internalising all their emotions and not communicating - but they don't have any of the auditory-sensory stuff you've got going on. They're just difficult to communicate with and anti-social - so get informally labelled as 'aspergic' and get streamlined into the wrong sort of solution.

I hope that my late response didn't cause you to delete your reply. I was hoping to read it again before I wrote this but alas! My fault entirely. I often have a backlog of comments and craziness to get through on Medium - because I like talking to (and arguing with) people to see how different everyone is and examine the full spectrum of human thought. I don't know why I'm telling you this - we both studied Psychology, we're both big fans of thought processes in general. Sometimes I wonder how I manage to get any actual writing done.

Please keep writing and keep up the great work. Write about neurodiversity and being female and autistic. I think my Mum may be too - which is part of why I've honed in on your work. She has always had a number of autistic traits - and hidden them very well. I'm looking forward to more of your stuff popping up in my feed and learning more about autism and being female with autism.

Oh, and never apologise for writing long messages. It's the way the world should be. Take care. :o)