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Robin
page 28 of etiolated. the page is written and drawn across a top-down photograph of support beams near a train station elevator. a crossroad is below. pigeon spikes on a few of the beams have pinned a sock and some trash. a small panel of text: "recovery takes at least as long as the disregulating event". second panel text: by this point, i was sure i was on the spectrum. i was scared of how much i needed to change parts of my life - so i began a. third panel text crosses the page: free trial of Autism (Lite) ^tm. fourth panel text: having read the ways other adults with autism described their lives, i adopted parts that seemed helpful. it helped. robin says this to a laptop. therapist video on the laptop responds "thought so". tiny but highlighted text in the corner of the panel reads "tell your client about your suspicions!" last panel text: now the hard part: documents. a doodle of robin walking with their cane down a street of handsome brownstones and gardens. text resumes: despite increased public attention to adult diagnosis, insurance and medical offices are ~10 years behind the studies

if recovery takes at least as long as the disregulating event, then nearly everyone i know is due decades of healing

because insurance and medical offices are behind the data, and because the data has hardly begun to exist, a lot of adults in america spend a lot of time and money to find a doctor who can help them understand whether they’re neurodiverse

many symptoms of autism and ADHD – guess what my diagnosis will be – got in the way of finding a doctor. the biggest hindrance, however, was doctor after doctor who neither listened nor admitted ignorance

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