I work with clients from their late teens into their late 70s. One question some of my older clients ask, particularly those over the age of 60, is whether there’s any point in pursuing an autism diagnosis at their age. After all, they’ve already lived an entire life without knowing.

The reality is that living with undiagnosed autism is challenging. Many undiagnosed autistic adults, particularly older adults who grew up in an era of increased ignorance and reduced acceptance of autism, camouflage their autistic traits heavily. Camouflaging, or masking, involves hiding the traits that are most likely to reveal you as autistic and hiding the levels of anxiety and discomfort you experience in social situations and as the result of sensory or emotional overwhelm.

Camouflaging is linked with mental health issues, including anxiety, depression, and suicidality.1 So while these older adults have gotten........

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