Published on 12, July, 2020
I have been collating various autism related web addresses and came across an autism section on the website for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP).
For some reason, there are two web addresses for the same information:http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/clinical-resources/autistic-spectrum-disorder.aspxhttp://www.rcgp.org.uk/ASD
I was surprised by the amount of useful information available. The 'Autistic Spectrum Disorders Toolkit' web page (http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/toolkits/asd-toolkit.aspx) is particularly informative; to highlight just two examples, the page includes a link to take you to the relevant text of ICD-10 (Version: 2016) and has a section for autism in females.
There is a guide for GP reception staff (http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/toolkits/-/media/60663BF35A1F43ADBAC65E108B8518EC.ashx) that includes possible reasonable adjustments. There is also a 'Making the most of a visit to your GP' guide (http://www.rcgp.org.uk/clinical-and-research/~/~/media/Files/CIRC/Autism/RCGP-Making-the-most-of-a-visit-to-your-GP-Jan-15.ashx) which also includes possible reasonable adjustments.
It is a shame that the RCGP use the word 'Disorder' rather than 'Condition' but that does not take away from the information provided.
Thank you caretwo for this info. And yeah, they might still be using the word ‘disorder’ but that’s how they and how some, genuinely perceive it, but that will change in time, as the medical model was replaced by the social model of disability so with more understating, they will stop the use of that word.
You might also be interested in the "Barriers to Health Care for Autistic People" article (http://network.autism.org.uk/knowledge/insight-opinion/barriers-health-care-autistic-people); one of its paragraphs is:"There are 'autism friendly' theatre performances so why not autism friendly GP sessions, once a week with quiet waiting rooms, no mobile phones and longer appointment times to take into account slower processing times (Dern and Sappok 2016). Should the entertainment industry be ahead of health services in terms of meeting the needs of autistic people?"
That would be excellent, an autism friendly gp session, where you get the gp’s that have some understanding of autism as well. I’ll have a read of that, thank you.