Late Diagnosis Club: How Michael Discovered He Was Autistic After Years of Anxiety Misdiagnosis

In this meeting of The Late Diagnosis Club, Dr Angela Kingdon welcomes Michael Kelly, a late-diagnosed Autistic artist and recent PhD graduate in design whose work explores how art can help us think about thinking.

Michael’s path to diagnosis began unexpectedly during his wife Susie’s autism assessment. After sitting in on several sessions as her carer, the clinician suggested that Michael pursue an assessment as well, leading to his own diagnosis a year later.

Together, Angela and Michael explore childhood solitude and special interests, creative practice as a way of understanding the mind, and how art can disrupt the systems that shape our thinking.

🪑 Attendees

Chair: Dr Angela Kingdon — Author, community-builder, and Autistic advocate

Guest: Michael Kelly — Autistic artist, designer, and researcher

You: The Listener!

🗒️ Meeting Agenda

• Opening remarks from the Chair
• Member introduction: Growing up as the “weird kid” and finding refuge in books and ideas
• Discussion: Philosophy, art practice, and early adult burnout
• Psychosis, misdiagnosis, and years labelled as anxiety
• Autistic masking, sensory overwhelm, and family patterns
• Art as inquiry: performance, sculpture, and metacognition
• Artificial intelligence, normativity, and the role of artists
• Key learnings
• Club announcements

🧾 Minutes from the Meeting

1️⃣ Opening Remarks

Angela introduces Michael Kelly, a late-diagnosed Autistic artist and newly minted PhD graduate whose research explores how art can help us understand thinking itself, particularly in the context of emerging technologies and artificial intelligence.

2️⃣ Member Introduction: Michael’s Story

Michael describes growing up as “the weird kid,” finding comfort in solitary interests like books, dinosaurs, comics, and drawing. As an only child, he often retreated into imagination and reflection. Experiences that, in hindsight, align with Autistic ways of engaging with the world.

After studying philosophy at Durham University in the UK, Michael pursued creative work and eventually a career in advertising before experiencing severe burnout and psychosis in his mid-20s. For years afterwards, he lived under an anxiety diagnosis without understanding the deeper neurodivergent context behind his experiences.

3️⃣ Discussion Highlights

• Only-child solitude: Safe space for imagination, reading, and deep thinking
• Early interests: Dinosaurs, comics, drawing, theology, and philosophy
• Advertising burnout: Workplace pressure and sensory overload leading to psychosis
• Misdiagnosis: Years labelled with anxiety before autism was considered
• Partner recognition: Sitting in on Susie’s autism assessment sparked Michael’s own
• Masking and sensory overwhelm: Eye contact, social performance, and inherited patterns
• Art as inquiry: Performance art, sculpture, and artistic experiments exploring the mind
• Metacognition: Using art to examine how humans think about thinking
• AI and normativity: Concerns about artificial intelligence reinforcing “average” thinking

4️⃣ Key Learnings

• Late discovery often begins with recognition by someone close to us.
• Years of anxiety or other diagnoses can obscure underlying neurodivergence.
• Creative practice can become a powerful tool for understanding internal experience.
• Masking and sensory overwhelm often shape lifelong coping strategies.
• Artists may play an important role in questioning the systems and technologies shaping our future.

📌 Notice Board

• Michael’s Website

📣 Club Announcements

🎧 The Late Diagnosis Club is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and all major platforms.

💬 Join our online meetups and community at latediagnosis.club.

📌 Check the LDC Notice Board for Member Contributions

💜 There is a small charge — but no one is turned away for lack of funds.

🌈 Celebrate autistic voices with early access, ad-free listening, and our full archive at AutisticCulturePlus.com

🌐 Visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com

📲 Follow us on Instagram: @autisticculturepodcast

🎙️ Executive Producers: Amy Burns, Anamaria B Call, Andrew Banner, Anna Goodson, Ashley Apelzin, Audrea Volker, Ben Coulson, Brian Churcek, Cappy Hamper, Carley Biblin, Charlene Deva, Chloe Cross, Clay Duhigg, Clayton Oliver, Danny Dunn, Daria Brown, David Garrido, Emily Burgess, Eric Crane, Erik Stenerud, Fiona Baker, Grace Norman, Helen Shaddock, Jaimie Collins, Jason Killian, Jen Unruh, Jennifer Carpenter, Julia Tretter, Kathie Watson-Gray, Kenneth Knowles, Kira Cotter, Kristine Lang, Kyle Raney, Llew P Williams, Laura Alvarado, Laura De Vito, Laura Provonsha, Lily George, Nelly Darmi, Nigel Rogers, Rachel Miller, Tim Scott, Tyler Kunz, Victoria Steed, Yanina Wood.

🎧 Producers: AJ Knight, Bobby Simon, Da Kovac, Eleanor Collins, Emily Griffiths, Hannah Hughes, Jennifer Kemp, Jonas Fløde, Kate F, Katie N Benitez, Kendra Murphy, Lisa Dennys, Logan Wall, Louise Lomas, Melissa Nance, Nicola Owen, Rebecka Johansson, Sam Morris, Sarah Hannah Morris.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.