Hospitals not ASD friendly

I have had to go to A and E and found the experience deeply uncomfortable.  Lots of people noise etc.  

I also have had to wait over a month and a half for a breathing issue to do with my throat.  Despite my Gp saying it was urgent.  

I got told many reasons why I had to wait so long.  Inconsistency, a real pain with my suspected ASD.  This prolonged agony got me thinking,  do hospitals really understand ASD?

Think of their layout and lack of facilities.

Does anyone else think this?

Parents
  • I cannot stand interaction with any medical professionals. I find that they all seem to either consider me a liar, or to not actually listen to what I'm saying - they seem to get bored partway through the detailed explanation I'm providing for their benefit, cling onto one early word that's been used, and focus too heavily on that.

    I was actually in hospital yesterday. I'd been ill for a week, and yesterday suddenly started struggling to breathe. I couldn't say more than three words without running out of breath. Now, it takes a lot to even get me to a GP never mind hospital - I have never in my adult life been to hospital for myself - because I only go for any medical help when I consider it 100% necessary.

    So I went in, struggling to breathe. I was put into the waiting room for 4 hours. About two hours into that wait, my breathing improved. By the time I was seen, I was back to normal.

    When the doctor called me in, I started with "I've had a cough for five days...". I then went on to explain how it was around 3.30 that day that I'd started struggling to breathe and couldn't even finish a sentence. The doctor responded by asking questions about my cough, listening to my chest and informing me that it wasn't a chest infection so would just be a normal cough, which would go better on its own, so I should go home. No reference at all to the breathing difficulties I'd had.

    This seems to be a trend on every (rare) occasion that I seek medical help or advice. I'm treated like I'm stupid and asking for help for the tiniest and most insignificant thing. It's patronising.

    My husband, apparently, does not have this problem. I can only assume it's the order he explains symptoms in, or that he notices a doctor going off on a tangent and has the courage to correct them where I don't.

    I cope fine with the actual hospital environment, but can never get a medical professional to actually listen to what I'm saying. 

Reply
  • I cannot stand interaction with any medical professionals. I find that they all seem to either consider me a liar, or to not actually listen to what I'm saying - they seem to get bored partway through the detailed explanation I'm providing for their benefit, cling onto one early word that's been used, and focus too heavily on that.

    I was actually in hospital yesterday. I'd been ill for a week, and yesterday suddenly started struggling to breathe. I couldn't say more than three words without running out of breath. Now, it takes a lot to even get me to a GP never mind hospital - I have never in my adult life been to hospital for myself - because I only go for any medical help when I consider it 100% necessary.

    So I went in, struggling to breathe. I was put into the waiting room for 4 hours. About two hours into that wait, my breathing improved. By the time I was seen, I was back to normal.

    When the doctor called me in, I started with "I've had a cough for five days...". I then went on to explain how it was around 3.30 that day that I'd started struggling to breathe and couldn't even finish a sentence. The doctor responded by asking questions about my cough, listening to my chest and informing me that it wasn't a chest infection so would just be a normal cough, which would go better on its own, so I should go home. No reference at all to the breathing difficulties I'd had.

    This seems to be a trend on every (rare) occasion that I seek medical help or advice. I'm treated like I'm stupid and asking for help for the tiniest and most insignificant thing. It's patronising.

    My husband, apparently, does not have this problem. I can only assume it's the order he explains symptoms in, or that he notices a doctor going off on a tangent and has the courage to correct them where I don't.

    I cope fine with the actual hospital environment, but can never get a medical professional to actually listen to what I'm saying. 

Children
  • I suspect this is how they come up with this "huge number of people that go to A&E for a cold"... One way anyway.

  • Neurotypicals can handle only so much information at once, and you have to use short sentences. It's best to just tell them the 3 most important things you have to say and don't go beyond that until they start asking questions, at which point you can respond, but keep your responses brief and to the point. They have no attention span so it's best to just get your main message across right away to make sure it has been received. Once they get overloaded with information, they are practically useless at responding properly to any additional information they are given.

    Regarding the original question: it's hard to tell whether the hospital environment really bothers us more than neurotypicals. I think it is an unpleasant experience for everyone. Since I'm not NT I wouldn't know how they feel about it, but surely nobody likes sitting around in a noisy waiting room for hours when they are ill enough to require a hospital.