‘I felt broken before being diagnosed at 70’ | Global News Avenue

Andrew Davies had a lifelong feeling of not fitting in, that he was broken in some way, that he was strange, or that there was something wrong with him.

It wasn’t until he was 70 years old that he discovered he had autism.

“It’s just who I am and how my brain is wired…the way I experience the world is different,” he said.

Research shows that, like Andrew, there are many others who go their entire lives without knowing they are at risk. autism spectrum.

There are between 250,000 and 600,000 people over the age of 50 in England who may have autism but have not yet been diagnosed. UK primary care records study Suggested.

Researchers say this means more than 90% of people with autism over the age of 50 go undiagnosed.

“Autism has been considered a childhood disease for many years, but it is a lifelong condition and as people get older they remain autistic,” Andrew said.

Andrew, 72, retired in 2019 after a long and impressive career.

He served as a minister and member of parliament for the first ten years of the Welsh Government (now known as Members of the Senedd, or MS,) played for Swansea West from 1999 to 2011.

After quitting Parliament, he served for six years as chairman of the then Abertaway Brothers Morgan University Health Committee.

This may not be the most obvious job for someone who says they “often have difficulty understanding and relating to others.”

Andrew, who lives in Mount Pleasant, Swansea, said: “I can be in a group, follow the conversation, know what to say… but not know the rules of small talk.”

Since childhood, he has preferred solitude and one-on-one friendships to groups.

This becomes more difficult to deal with in middle school.

“I was really struggling,” he said.

“I felt like something was broken, something weird, something was wrong.”

He found the social rules and structures of working life easier to navigate, but often felt “bombarded” and “overcrowded” at the end of a long day.

“I suspect people might think ‘oh, he’s quite standoffish’, but it’s a combination of shyness and not knowing what to say,” he said.

Andrew also experienced hypersensitivity reaction.

“I’ve never really been a fan of discotheques and rock concerts, for example, I find the sound and lights almost overwhelming and uncomfortable,” he said.

Other sounds, whether it was his wife chewing gum or a neighbor’s dog barking, as well as smells, such as congealed fat or grease, and sights like fluorescent lights, always made him feel deeply uncomfortable.

“I have to leave,” he said.

“You try to ignore it, but it’s a physical, instinctive reaction.”

Another characteristic of autism, he now knows, is something he has benefited from in his work— Intense interest, also known as excessive gaze.

He said he was often engrossed in topics of interest to him and devoted himself to in-depth research.

“I wanted to really get to the bottom of this problem and most people would think ‘that’s interesting’ and move on,” he said.

He said researching autism had become “another rabbit hole that I disappeared down.”

It was this tendency to over-engage in topics that first led him to believe he might have autistic traits.

He was chatting with a colleague who had recently been diagnosed with autism.

The colleague said he had been working with a counselor who took him aside and said, “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but you already have all the classic signs of autism. symptom.”

Seeing the parallels between colleagues’ detailed research and long emails and his own “penny drops.”

Andrew started reading and listening to podcasts about autism and decided to take an online questionnaire designed by psychologist Professor Simon Baron-Cohen.

“I’m pretty firmly in the middle of the spectrum,” he said.

He then decided to seek a formal diagnosis and found there was a three to four-year wait on the NHS, so ultimately opted for private treatment.

What does the diagnosis mean to him?

“It was just confirmation… that I wasn’t broken or weird or something was wrong, it was just who I was and how my brain was wired,” he said.

“When you get to this age, you look back on your life, from character to soul.

“I think it helps you come to terms with what’s going on in your life.”

Andrew has suffered from depression since he was a teenager – Research shows People with autism may be more likely to suffer from depression than people without autism, according to the National Autistic Society.

He also went through periods of poor health, which he now considers autism burnout.

Data shows people over 50 are far less likely to be diagnosed with autism than children – One in 34 children is diagnosed with autism, while only one in 6,000 adults over the age of 50 is diagnosed with autism.

Dr Gavin Stewart, a researcher at King’s College London with an interest in aging and autism spectrum disorder, said: “There are probably large underserved groups of people who should get the support they need.”

He said one reason older people go undiagnosed is that in the 1960s, when they were young, autism was seen as a very rare condition, “whereas today people view autism in a much more common way.” disease, and the prevalence reflects this.”

He said that for many older people, receiving a diagnosis was a “lightbulb moment” that meant they could better understand their life experiences, while also opening the door to help and support, such as from an employer or Help and support from people providing residential care.

He hopes clinicians working with older adults will be better able to identify people with undiagnosed autism.

“We know that people with autism often need extra help and support throughout their lives to support their mental health and ensure they live a happy life,” he said.

“Getting the right help and support can be a real key factor in ensuring they age well and I think everyone has the right to live their best life.”