Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
A brief introduction - I am a thirty year old woman, and during my twenties there was a conversation that I had three times with three different friends. Here is the jist of it:
Friend: "I think you might have Asperger Syndrome."
Me: "Oh. What do you think I should do about that?"
Friend: *shrug*
These were all people who knew me well, and all had some knowledge/experience of ASD (one had Asperger Syndrome herself, one worked with autistic adults for several years, and one studied ASD at uni). I understood where they were coming from. I have had issues with social interaction since I was a child, being socially passive and very uncomfortable with prolonged socialising. Sometimes I really struggle to process what people are saying, which led me to think I had hearing issues for a while (it turns out my ears are fine). I thrive on routine and often feel lost when my life loses its usual structure. I'm also hypersensitive to heat, cold, and food textures.
However, there are other things that make me think I don't have AS. For example, I consider my empathy skills to be fairly good - I can often tell how people are feeling from their tone of voice or even their posture. This makes me think that my social issues might just be due to an introverted personality. Also, I'm the type of person who could easily be stereotyped as having AS - I'm nerdy, brainy, and I also happen to be asexual/aromantic (I don't experience sexual or romantic attraction) which people seem to get confused with AS for some reason.
I've been struggling with my anxiety lately, which makes me think I should investigate this so I can deal with my mental health more productively. I'm considering asking my GP for an assessment. I've read a lot of testimonies from people who got diagnosed as adults and they mostly seem very positive. So many people say that it helped them understand and accept themselves, and that they have no regrets about getting diagnosed.
However, I am interested in the other side of this experience. What about the people who get assessed for ASD and find out that they don't have it? Does this come as a relief, or a disappointment? Does it just leave you with the same old questions and no support? Maybe this isn't the best place to ask this question, since I suppose most people on this site do have a diagnosis. But Google is being useless so I thought I should give it a go. Any information you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thanks for reading through this very long post!
Dear NAS37143,
You may like to look at our information about autism spectrum disorders:http://www.autism.org.uk/about/what-is.aspx
If you were interested in finding out if you are on the autism spectrum, you would need to have a formal diagnostic assessment. You may find it useful to have a look at the following link for further information about diagnosis and the benefits of getting one:
http://www.autism.org.uk/about/diagnosis.aspx
Furthermore, it is important the professional you see has experience of autism spectrum disorders. You can find details of diagnostic services on our Autism Services Directory in the Assessment and diagnosis section:http://www.autism.org.uk/directory.aspx
You may like to have a look at the following page which includes personal accounts, which may help:http://www.autism.org.uk/about/adult-life/stories.aspx
It might also be useful to pass on information about autism to health professionals when seeking a diagnosis. The following page includes information for a range of health professionals: http://www.autism.org.uk/Working-with/Health.aspx
If you have further questions, you may like to contact our Autism Helpline team. They can provide you with information and advice about getting a diagnosis. You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Thursday 10am to 4pm, Friday 9am to 3pm).Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an advisor.
I hope this helps,
Mod-Federica