Growing up, Joey Murphy, 54, did not know she had what is now called Autism Spectrum Disorder. In this post, she shares the disorienting experience of life before diagnosis. 

You know me. If you’re over the age of say, 40, chances are you went to school with a girl like me. I was more or less on even footing with you academically, but I struggled with everything else. My physical movements were often spastic and jerky. I blurted rather than talked. I couldn’t hold a pencil properly. I got upset when rules weren’t followed. I was eager to please; yet I sometimes said the dumbest, rudest thing possible.

I spoke like a tiny adult but acted like a baby. I was easy to tease, easy to fool, and I had such an exaggerated startle response that it was hard to resist sneaking up behind me to make loud noises. You couldn’t have named it.

The teachers couldn’t even name it, but even in childhood, your lizard brain knew something about me was just…off.

(to read more of Joey’s story, click here)