Paul Isaacs, diagnosed with autism at age 24, shares his powerful journey from struggling with mental health breakdowns to becoming a successful autism trainer and speaker. After experiencing conditional psychosis and multiple misdiagnoses in his twenties, Paul finally received his autism diagnosis in 2010, which provided crucial answers for both him and his parents who had witnessed his challenges throughout education and employment. Born in 1986, Paul describes his early years as living in a fragmented world where he couldn’t process interpretive language and saw everything like pieces of a mosaic painting. His story reveals the stark differences in autism recognition during the late 80s and 90s compared to today, highlighting how educators focused on what he “couldn’t do” rather than offering support, and how he found his first friend in water rather than peers.