People who were diagnosed later in life, how did you cope with the news?

Going to try and do a thread again. I tried making one yesterday but it really didn't make sense or leave room for discussion.

I was recently diagnosed officially after learning I "might" be autistic when I was 16. But my dad flipped out starting yelling at the doctor that "his son ain't no goddamn *insert slur* and refused to let me go back to any doctor. I kinda just pushed everything down till I couldn't anymore and my wife urged me again to talk to someone about that and other trauma and after 2 months of trying to make appointments for one I finally did.

Like I had always had the thought in the back of my mind but I just kept my customer service mask on and pretended I was happy and just said whatever I thought the other person expected me to say.

But now I am starting to reflect on past interactions and I had no idea how much I was just sacred and confused all the time about everything. I actually couldn't hold a meaningful conversation with someone. Never understood why I can't make eye contact with people or when I get really stressed or overstimulated my brain just checks out and I go "blank" not talk or doing anything for a spell.

There's a lot more to it but this has taken me a couple hours to write up.