‘I recognised myself for the first time’: the adults finally diagnosed as autistic

Antoinette Monks: ‘It’s exhausting being me.’ Photograph: Supplied

Antoinette Monks was diagnosed with autism and probable inattentive ADHD last year, at 71 years old.

“I have always known that I was different and always let everyone down but I didn’t know why,” she said. “That ‘not knowing why’ has haunted me throughout my life but it seemed impossible that I would ever find out why I behaved as I did.