All my life I've always struggled to fit in, always felt different, like everything that is so simple to everyone else was always a massive struggle for me, which seemed so unfair. When I was 20 in 2008, someone mentioned Asperger's Syndrome to me because of how I had responded to a situation. I had heard of it before, and had friends on the spectrum in school, but had never associated myself with it. I read up about it and suddenly it felt like my whole life made sense. Everything I've always struggled with suddenly had a logical explanation. It felt like a light at the end of a very long tunnel.
I spent the next 10 years trying to get somebody to take me seriously. People telling me "What will reaching a diagnosis accomplish? Let's try and find ways to move forward without that", which is absolutely no use to me whatsoever once I've been discharged and have zero long-term support. In 2018 I had to switch to a new GP, and I expressed my concern to her, and how important it was that I had a yes or no answer to this question. She was happy to refer me for an ASD diagnostic, which I was grateful for.
2 years later, in March 2020, I was still waiting for the assessment. I'm not a confident telephone user, so when I happened to be in their building for a psychology session I asked reception how much longer I will have to wait. They told me probably another 6 months. Then the pandemic hit, which I assume means that I still have over 6 months to wait now, when I probably should have had an answer by now if the pesky pandemic hadn't got in the way.
I'm terrified about the process to be honest. Terrified of meeting the people. Terrified that I'll somehow end up sabotaging myself by having 'self diagnosed' and keeping a list of the things I struggle with that make me think I am mildly autistic. Terrified that my struggles just haven't been 'enough' to register on the spectrum. I'm scared that they will say "There is no evidence that you have an autism spectrum disorder" and I'll be left feeling lost and broken, because I've put all my heart and soul into believing this is the explanation for all of my struggles.
Has anybody else been through one of these diagnostics as an adult? Is how I'm feeling natural? What sort of thing does the diagnostic entail, and how long does it take? I'm wondering how it would be adapted for social distancing and stuff like that.
Thanks all
I spent the next 10 years trying to get somebody to take me seriously. People telling me "What will reaching a diagnosis accomplish? Let's try and find ways to move forward without that", which is absolutely no use to me whatsoever once I've been discharged and have zero long-term support. In 2018 I had to switch to a new GP, and I expressed my concern to her, and how important it was that I had a yes or no answer to this question. She was happy to refer me for an ASD diagnostic, which I was grateful for.
2 years later, in March 2020, I was still waiting for the assessment. I'm not a confident telephone user, so when I happened to be in their building for a psychology session I asked reception how much longer I will have to wait. They told me probably another 6 months. Then the pandemic hit, which I assume means that I still have over 6 months to wait now, when I probably should have had an answer by now if the pesky pandemic hadn't got in the way.
I'm terrified about the process to be honest. Terrified of meeting the people. Terrified that I'll somehow end up sabotaging myself by having 'self diagnosed' and keeping a list of the things I struggle with that make me think I am mildly autistic. Terrified that my struggles just haven't been 'enough' to register on the spectrum. I'm scared that they will say "There is no evidence that you have an autism spectrum disorder" and I'll be left feeling lost and broken, because I've put all my heart and soul into believing this is the explanation for all of my struggles.
Has anybody else been through one of these diagnostics as an adult? Is how I'm feeling natural? What sort of thing does the diagnostic entail, and how long does it take? I'm wondering how it would be adapted for social distancing and stuff like that.
Thanks all
