“You don’t look autistic” I didn’t know I was either. I knew I was different, I realised I was ‘odd’, I spent years learning how to be more ‘acceptable’ Learning social cues. Learning how to mask. Learning how to fit into systems that never quite made sense to my brain. And for a long time, I thought the answer was to try harder. To be more “normal”. More consistent. More disciplined in a way that wasn’t actually natural to me and lead to burnout. It wasn’t until I understood my neurotype that things started to shift. I don’t experience it as a disorder. I experience it as a different way of processing the world. A different rhythm, a different wiring, with its own strengths and challenges. And I’ve been far more functional since working with my brain rather than trying to force myself into being something else. There’s this analogy I love: If you’ve spent your whole life trying to be a horse, finding out you’re actually a zebra can be a massive relief. There’s nothing wron...