Hi, nice to meet you! Thank you for taking a moment to learn more about me. I appreciate it.

 

My name is Agustina (pronounced August-ina), and I'm from Uruguay, South America. I recently graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and am currently pursuing a Master's degree in Clinical Neuropsychology. I hope to specialise in neurodivergence diagnosis and focus my research on neurodivergent well-being.

 

I enjoy reading books on a variety of topics, including self-improvement, existentialism, productivity, magic, nature, and neuroscience. Quite the mix, I know! I love animals and absolutely adore spending time with my cat and dog; they make my life happier in so many ways!

 

What's The Autistic Life about? Well, growing up, things always felt harder for me than for everyone else, as if others knew something I didn't. I experienced many sensory difficulties that others didn't seem to share, from issues with food, clothing, and textures, to sensitivities to loud noises, bright lights, and unexpected touch. I often missed jokes and social cues, always too afraid to ask for an explanation. My emotions sometimes seemed out of scale in public; I might cry easily or become upset over seemingly small things. Making friends was always a struggle. It felt like everyone else was speaking a different language. In high school, I had friends, but our connections often faded within a few months, especially over the summer. If I was part of a group of three, the other two would become close, and I would be left out. My tendency to cancel plans, or perhaps accidentally say something hurtful, sometimes led to misunderstandings and hurt feelings.

 

For years, I felt trapped in an endless cycle of being misunderstood and unable to understand others. As I got older, I went from feeling like I was on the social periphery in my teens to feeling invisible in my late twenties. I now realise I was trying to fit into something I was never meant to fit into in the first place.

 

Discovering you're Autistic and ADHD as an adult is a profound realisation, almost an epiphany. Initially, it can feel disorienting and even saddening. There's so much to learn about yourself, so many behaviours to unmask, and so many gaps to fill—it can be overwhelming. But as time goes by, and you read about other people's experiences, you revisit every incident, every moment, every action and reaction of your past self, and you start to see yourself with different eyes, in a different light.

 

Reading the work of other Autistic people it felt almost as if someone had been watching my life from afar and had written about it. It felt like a warm hug I didn't know I needed. Things were so accurately described that I cried while watching You-Tube videos and reading comments on Instagram accounts of Autistic folks. If it hadn't been for them, I would've never considered autism as an explanation for my struggles. 

 

After spending 27 years of my life feeling misunderstood and like I had no place in the world, I received my diagnoses officially and they changed my life. I started this corner in the world out of my wish to share my experiences and be THAT person for someone else. 

 

The Autistic Life is my contribution to the community that helped me embrace my true self. I hope this space and my work help you love yourself, too.