Key Words

Autism in women, Late-diagnosed autism, Neurodivergence, Masking, Highly Sensitive Person (HSP), Autistic burnout, Internalised meltdowns, Social justice sensitivity, Eating disorders, Food restriction, Orthorexia, Validation and achievement, Academic pressure, University burnout,, Mental health stigma, Depression, Nervous system regulation, Female autism presentation, Disability and invisibility

Summary

In Part 1 of this two-part episode, Bec shares the early chapters of her late-diagnosed autism story, from childhood, school, and adolescence through to university and the slow, invisible onset of burnout.

This episode explores what it means to grow up as an autistic girl without language, diagnosis, or support, learning early on that academic achievement, compliance, and “being good” could substitute for connection and safety.

Key Themes

• How achievement and validation became coping strategies
• The experience of masking before knowing what masking was
• Food sensitivities, eating restriction, and the overlap between control, praise, and worth
• A strong social justice compass and how global injustice overwhelmed an already overloaded nervous system
• Depression, internalised meltdowns, and self-harm as attempts at regulation
• Why things stabilised when structure matched her nervous system — and fell apart when it didn’t
• How university removed the last scaffolds that had been holding everything together

Part 1 ends at the point where systems, structure, and self-compensation finally begin to fail — setting the stage for.

Part 2, where adulthood, work, trauma, motherhood, diagnosis, and rebuilding are explored.

This episode is not diagnostic advice.
It is one person’s story — shared in the hope that it offers language, recognition, and a little more compassion for your past.

Come across to @beccameroncoach_au if you want to chat or simply leave a comment below.