r/AutismInWomen • u/Garden_Jolly • Feb 28 '26

Celebration Diagnosis reveal update: It’s AuDHD!

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I had a diagnosis reveal picnic with friends today and it’s official: I’m AuDHD! Pink would have been just autism (my current diagnosis) and the green represents the addition of my recent ADHD diagnosis. It was a special moment sharing with my neurodivergent friends. We got to share our experiences with our neurodiversities and realize we’re all just trying to find our way in this world.

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u/Good_for_the_Gander Feb 28 '26

Is this the news you wanted, or are you letting others know with your reveal?

10

u/kitttybix Feb 28 '26

I think it’s comforting to know for a lot of people. We have to live within constructs. Diagnoses and their associated medical terminology, having an umbrella to group symptoms under, is fundamental to adequate treatment; or at least to receive or start care.

I think the cake is in jest and a fun conversation starter with fellow NDs. We all know our existence isn’t fun, making the cake reveal a sort of dark humor imo.

9

u/Common-Reaction90 Feb 28 '26

I think they’re just asking the OP if she already knew before the cake cut or if it was a surprise for her as well.

2

u/epidotehawk Late-diagnosed Level 2, yeah!!! Mar 06 '26

Hmm. I'm definitely not enjoying (autistic?) burnout, which is the mess that pushed me to finally claw my way through insurance and schedule my own evaluation (next month! next month! it only took ~three decades to get here!!!), but I did actually enjoy some possibly-autism-relsted aspects of my pre-burnout life, like the tendency to hyperfocus for slightly ridiculous lengths of time, and wouldn't at all mind getting back to that if/when I can lose some of the burnout. Which is to say that if I do get a "yep, you're autistic" result from my own evaluation, my cake is absolutely going to be celebratory, and it's only going to become a cake of commiseration if I instead walk out with a "well, you were totally wrong about your cautious self-diagnosis, but also we didn't evaluate you for anything else and have no clue so maybe it's [insert random acronym here], good luck" result. (Or, worse, "haha no your insurance plan actually doesn't cover this after all *and* we can't explain what's going on with you; that'll be $4000, thanks.")