I took on the Hyde Park 10K run on March 15, raising £2,000 for Autistica. It was a meaningful challenge that pushed me physically, while allowing me to contribute to a cause that was deeply important to me personally as an autistic person.

I received my autism diagnosis here in the UK as an adult, a few years ago. The diagnosis surprised me, not because it didn’t fit my experiences, but because my understanding of autism from growing up in Nigeria is quite different.

I think Nigeria's only just opening up to the idea of mental health difficulties beyond things like stress. I think we’re probably years away from accepting that autism is a spectrum or understanding conditions like ADHD. I don’t think there’s necessarily a stigma, but it's more a lack of cultural awareness, which impedes people like me from getting diagnosed early on. I’m certain I might have been able to find the right support had I known sooner.

I was at boarding school in Nigeria from the age of 11 to about 16. Back then, a lot of the things I found difficult I attributed to depression and mood issues. In reality, these were likely chronic fatigue and masking, exacerbated by a frustration with things not getting better from treatments which didn’t treat the more prevalent condition. In the absence of a diagnosis, I was thinking about things from an emotional lens instead of a neurological one.

Looking back, I didn’t necessarily experience significant social challenges, but I think this was because I did a lot of masking, which I didn't necessarily know I was doing. But also, I didn’t really have to navigate as many social cues back home because the rules and norms were made quite clear early on.

I moved to the UK for sixth form and initially struggled to fit in. At the time, I attributed these challenges to acclimating to new cultural norms and getting used to code switching. I think code switching is a universal experience – it’s essentially switching to what’s considered appropriate in a specific context. For example, how I might email a manager isn’t the same way I’d message a friend. Many of my other Black or Nigerian friends would change their accents at school or with friends from other cultures; it’s what was considered the norm by those around me, and I didn’t question it.

But masking is deeper. You have to constantly observe yourself, what you're saying, and how you're exhibiting, all without presenting as you’re doing all these things internally. It’s a lot of self-monitoring to the point of being obsessive – it’s fundamentally fatiguing. I see it as a performance where you not only feel forced to pretend, but you have to almost constantly shapeshift to fit in.

Learning I was autistic helped me understand why I found moving to the UK so difficult. It wasn't just acclimating to a new place with its own culture, but a new world with completely new rules which everyone else seems to be unaffected by – or at least not nearly as affected. I eventually got the hang of it and vividly remember describing to my friends that I had ‘mastered being a chameleon’. It’s slightly ironic looking back on those moments.

I found my first few months at university really difficult. I have always been quite clean and conscious of how things around me are, but not germophobic by any means. But it became quite excessive while living alone. I hyperfixated on cleaning in my living space to the point that I would clean everything repeatedly, likely as an outlet.

I was eventually recommended for an autism diagnosis by both my GP and my therapist, following a period of what I now understand was ‘autistic burnout’. In the months between my referral and eventual diagnosis, learning about autism and how it applied to my life felt like a massive epiphany.

I’ve really tried to mask less over the past year. I know it’s not as easy as merely ‘deciding’ not to, I still find myself masking subconsciously at times, but I’ve made progress so far. I wish it were the case earlier and sooner, and I wish more people could experience this.

I don't run normally. I did one 10k for Place2Be, a mental health charity, about five years ago but used to run far more at the time. For this challenge, I had to train essentially from couch to 10K, which was quite interesting. But it was meaningful knowing it was for a charity that supported people like me.

I suppose it made me more passionate about fundraising for the cause. It helped me spread awareness to friends and family who hadn't heard much about autism, or specifically about Autistica’s efforts in campaigning and research.

Autism is a single condition, but it's broad. And even within that breath, there's a vast range of different experiences influenced by lived experience, culture and world views. Research is how you understand the needs of all sorts of people. I like Autistica’s dual approach of research and campaigning. You can't do campaigning in a vacuum without knowing what to campaign for and what people’s needs are. But without research, you’re just guessing or speculating. It's not as cohesive and it just doesn’t work.