Terrified to get diagnosed

Hey, don’t be scared, now I know that’s ridiculous to say to an autistic but I’ll tell you why.

last week I had my assesment and officially diagnosed as autistic, I’m 38.

i understand thinking of things to tell the doctor is hard. Best way is to spend a couple of weeks making a detailed list of all your traits. Mine was a couple of pages when I saw my doctor to around 12 pages by the time I had my assesment.

i wouldn’t worry about your parents. The diagnoses is for you! Once your there you can choose to tell them or not.

there really arnt that many steps to a diagnoses, you see the go and get referred, once they receive the referral they send a questionnaire which you fill out, which ask many details of why you want to get diagnosed and you difficulties and history. 

May they point they then decide if you go on the waiting get list if you do it’s actually the hardest bit. It’s a cas if waiting. In my area it was 14 months.

you then get your appointment though, again have I got prepared to hand over. I won’t lie and will say the assesment is stressful. Mine was around 2 hours. It really does help if you take Somone who’s known you with you. You pretty much get asked questions about yourself, which you have plenty of time to prepare for, you just have to be honest. There also a few other little test that can be stressful. For example I was asked to look at a book, no words just very confusing pictures about a boy having a dream. I didn’t get it.

also I was asked to have 5 random objects and make up a story, instant panic and I said I didn’t want to do it. Well I couldn’t do it.

My assesment was the first time anyone other than my wife has seen how stressed and anxious I was as I’m usually very good at camouflaging. 

But you sound a lot like me, I became obsessed with autism but at the same time without that official diagnoses I couldn’t say to anyone out side my immediate family. 

But the diagnoses was a relief. I knew I was right. I can now tell work and it’s amazing when you really start to look at your life how much things really are affected.

please ask any questions you have. I’m a very honest person (I mean I’m austistic) 

so maore than happy to answer any questions 

Thanks for replying. I’ll number my questions within this response.

I’ve watched some videos about the assessment and it sounds similar to what you said. I’m a bit worried that I won’t be “autistic” enough because something that I have a lot of is imagination, I was quite quiet as a kid so I was always inside my own head so I turned to creativity. (1) May I ask what questions they had about development because I don’t really remember much about my childhood. I asked my mum things about me as a baby, she said I was a very straight faced baby and I wouldn’t interact with anyone outside my immediate family or let them hold me. If people called my name I would just stare at them and not respond. She got a bit curious as to why I was asking so I quickly changed the topic. 

Also (2) what sort of questions were asked about your personal behaviour and (3) did you find that you stimmed a lot because of the stress? (Recently I’ve began rocking back and forth which is pretty awkward in public but it’s hard to stop myself). 

Ok. Remember every autistic is different so it doesn’t matter that one area, your imagination you good at.

remember the questions are designed a specific way. So you be be good at imagination but not in the way they are looking for if that makes sense.

so I took my wife and she only had knowledge of me from 19. My mum is n cut to useless. In the questionnaire they send out after referral there is one for Somone who remembers you as a child. No more information was given in this than what you described when you asked your mum.

as for stunning, I’m always very camouflaging in life. And I purposely didn’t in the assesment. After all that’s what they are there to observe right. So I was incredibly stressed and let them see that. I do t really have a specific stim tbh but I was very fidgety and I think I looked her in the eye like twice favouring looking out the window. My wife said I looked like I was on the verge of a breakdown.

But don’t worry about stimming. Let them see it.

i too was worried I wouldn’t get the diagnosis. For two years almost I’ve identified as autistic and it wasn’t until a few weeks before when Somone mentioned it, what if your not? I couldn’t get my head round that scenario. I was certain.

so a little more info, it was just me for 1 hour answering questions. Then the second hour it was me and my wife. 

It is really helpful and they advise you take Somone with you to confirm what your saying.

you don’t have to but it’s harder for them to asses otherwise.

any more questions?

Ah okay; thanks

Unfortunately, there's no shiny certificate :-( I received an official letter from the NHS stating my diagnosis a few days after my assessment as I'd asked for proof for reasonable adjustments at work. The full report was about a month after that.

Thats given me a big relief, thanks! After the assessment, how long did it take to get the official diagnosis on paper - is it like a certificate or something?

Thats given me a big relief, thanks! After the assessment, how long did it take to get the official diagnosis on paper - is it like a certificate or something?

Ah okay; thanks

Unfortunately, there's no shiny certificate :-( I received an official letter from the NHS stating my diagnosis a few days after my assessment as I'd asked for proof for reasonable adjustments at work. The full report was about a month after that.