**From Library Poster to Joy: My Unexpected Moment of Happiness**
As my eyes scanned my local library’s notice board, something stopped me dead in my tracks. Among the flyers for gardening and painting clubs, I spied one from the National Autistic Society about the challenges autistic adults face, such as struggling with daily routines, the impact of sensory difficulties in a busy world, and how relationships with others may be hard at times. It resonated with me straight away, even though I wasn’t really sure what autism was. This was the beginning of March 2019 – and this poster is what eventually led to me getting an autism diagnosis just before my 40th birthday. As a child, I was often drawing or reading alone – away from the hustle and bustle of everyone around me. The noise of school was chaotic and just too much, but I learnt to mask my discomfort with it. I didn’t realise I was doing that at the time, but masking is a strategy used by some autistic people – consciously or unconsciously – to appear neurotypical. Finding ...