Autism Has Never Held Me Back

Laura James had always felt different but nobody – including doctors – could work out why. It wasn’t until her mid-forties that she was finally diagnosed with autism.

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When autism was first defined in 1943 by Leo Kanner, it was thought only men were affected by the condition. There is now growing evidence suggesting more women have the condition than was previously thought, but are significantly under diagnosed. Laura James is one such woman. Laura lives in North Norfolk with her husband Tim, a photographer. She has four grown-up children: Lucie, Tatti, Jack and Toby. Two years ago she was diagnosed with autism. Here she tells her story…

As soon as I put the key so she started a in the front door, I feel freelance career a flash of irritation dart through me. I’m just back from a long day at work, having driven for four-and-a-half hours. I’m exhausted. It’s time for my bath, but the scent that reaches my nostrils as I stand on the doorstep is Aromatherapy Associates Deep Relax Oil. My husband, Tim, has not only taken all the hot water, he’s also used the last of my bath oil. 

My children call my heightened senses an Aspie super-power (“Aspie” is an affectionate term people used by many people with Asperger syndrome). Nothing escapes me. I know which of their friends are in the house simply by the perfume they wear, and no illicit cigarette could ever escape my attention.

It’s not just my senses that are different. Since early childhood I have been aware that my body and brain behave in a way that is unusual, as if I run on a different operating system. For instance, I often I take things more literally than others do. Into my early teens, phrases such as “has the cat got your tongue?” would send me into a panic. I would check my tongue was still there and I regarded cats with great suspicion for a long time afterwards. I still struggle when people say one thing and mean another.