It's hard to know what is or isn't a "typical" experience, and if you're like me, it's not always easy to ask for help even if you *do* know that something is wrong.
It's not okay that the way we ever had to *find out* that our experiences are valid, that we could have used help earlier if someone had just noticed.
It IS however amazing that in spite of all you've faced, you're still discovering yourself, and that's something to be proud of.
Go you! 
"When I was ~X years old" (further details) Show more
My hope is that folks can use this to calibrate their experiences, because I feel like there are a lot of people who feel self conscious about the age they discovered something about themself, or (like me) feel embarrassed that it took as long as it did.
In HS Psych I complained that I couldn't see the whiteboard from the front row. My teacher asked the person next to me to let me try on their glasses, and suddenly BOOM. I can see!