But Everyone Feels This Way: How an Autism Diagnosis Saved My Life

Autism acceptance activist and TikTok influencer Paige Layle shares her deeply personal journey to diagnosis and living life autistically.

"For far too long, I was told I was just like everyone else. But knew it couldn't be true. Living just seemed so much harder for me. This wasn't okay. This wasn't normal. This wasn't functioning. And it certainly wasn't fine."

Paige Layle was normal. She lived in the countryside with her mom, dad, and brother Graham. She went to school, hung out with friends, and all the while everything seemed so much harder than it needed to be. A break in routine threw off the whole day. If her teacher couldn't answer "why" in class, she dissolved into tears, unable to articulate her own confusion or explain her lack of control.

But Paige was normal. She smiled in photos, picked her feet up when her mom needed to vacuum instead of fleeing the room, and earned high grades. She had friends and loved to perform in local theater productions. It wasn't until a psychiatrist said she wasn't doing okay, that anyone believed her.

In But Everyone Feels This Way, Paige Layle shares her story as an autistic woman diagnosed late. Armed with the phrase "Autism Spectrum Disorder" (ASD), Paige challenges stigmas, taboos, and stereotypes while learning how to live her authentic, autistic life.


About the Author
Diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder at the age of 15, Paige Layle is an advocate and influencer for a better understanding of autism on social media. Paige began making videos in response to a degrading post about autistic people, initially creating a four-part series to address common misconceptions about autism. Now in her twenties, Paige is an autism acceptance activist on YouTube and TikTok.

Paige also works part-time as a dance teacher and shares her home in Kawartha Lakes, Canada with her dogs, Macey and Medusa and cat, Mikado. She narrated the Audible Original American Girl by Wendy Walker, "an instant #1 Audible bestseller."