Hi everyone,
I finally received my draft diagnostic report last night. I had intended to share part of it with my employer, but having read it I do not feel comfortable about this. There is relatively little in the report relating to employment and it is so deficit focused that I am concerned about the impact it would have.
I've been given an opportunity to correct inaccuracies before the report is finalised and I'm considering whether to ask for more significant amendments:
I would be happy to draft the additional material myself and ask for it to be added to the report. Perhaps this would be seen as inappropriate though?
Just wondering how you felt when you received your diagnostic report - were autistic strengths highlighted as well as deficits? If you were working did you share all or part of the report with your employer?
I've been waiting a very long time to receive the diagnostic report so I was a bit surprised by its brevity and lack of specificity. I have not seen any other reports so maybe mine is typical. It is a rough draft (typos, missing words) which Is difficult for me too. I would be upset if the final version included mistakes but if I correct the grammar and spelling I might cause offence.
I would appreciate any advice anyone can offer. I expected to have some negative feelings about my report given the assessment process is based on the medical model. However, I thought it would contain more information relating to employment as this was the main problem when I referred myself - we also spent much of my assessment discussing it.
Thank you!
I wouldn't think sharing the diagnostic report with employers would be a good idea at all as it probably paints an inaccurate picture of the overall situation. Of course for the purpose of the report that's its focus.
Our diagnostic centre gave us a two-sides of A4 letter intended for employers and other places where disclosure might be necessary. I think it just confirms the diagnosis, and has a bit of generic blurb about autism.
My report was ok. It didn't necessarily talk about strengths and weaknesses so much but more that I have a different way of thinking, processing and communicating. There were some mentions of difficulties and some areas of strengths mentioned. But it didn't come across as overly negative in my eyes.
I haven't disclosed to my employer yet but I've thought about it. I wouldn't show them my full report, it is too personal. I would give them the letter that states my diagnosis and probably write the key points from my report that I think impact at work.
It is worth asking whether they could do something specifically relating to employment though. The worst they can say is no.
Diagnostic report? I was supposed to receive a diagnostic report? :(
If I had received one, however, I would treat it as being for my eyes only and probably ask for a summary for the OT department at work IF I felt that certain things being on the record might be helpful. Then possibly use my next appraisal if there were any specific strengths, challenges or accommodations I felt I needed to discuss.
My approach is very guarded though and I'm not very trustful of most employers.
Thank you for this. Occupational Health wanted what is in the report to inform my next meeting with them I can be selective though and draft a summary of key points.
One of my managers is very hostile about my diagnosis and existing disabilities. I think this is why I feel anything I put forward needs to be endorsed by the psychologist.
A better way of approaching this may be via an Access to Woek assessment which I applied for today. I have 5 contracts, 3 managers and I work in multiple locations. I'm sure having a job coach would be useful though, and this person could probably help me manage all of my roles.
Thank you for this. The report has lots of sensitive personal information - showed it to my brother and he strongly advised me not to share it at work. I thought it would actually state whether the assessment was done using DSM or ICD - no mention of that. My brother said it sounded ambiguous because it says I meet the criteria for diagnosis but does not actually say I have been diagnosed.
To be honest I am feeling rather despondent about getting adjustments made at work. I have been in this situation twice before with hearing loss and it was a horrible experience. It's not so bad when you don't get support because your employer does not understand what you need. Once they know your requirements it's really hard if they refuse to accommodate you.
To be honest Jenny I don't think the report is all that helpful. It goes into great detail about the ADOS but apart from that there are just brief statements that sometimes rankle. It's hard to sum up 58 years of life in a couple of sides of A4 without skimming over things.
The initial email I got with some bullet points was probably more useful. Think I may be misunderstanding the purpose of the report. It is probably just intended to summarise the assessment process, not go into what needs to happen next.
I have not discovered anything new, apart from some negative statements about me made by my parents. I have always felt rather excluded and unloved - sadly it seems I was right to feel this way. I am going to have to try and forget what they said in order to continue to communicate with them.
You are right to be guarded and not to be trustful Jenny. I am going to try and adopt the same policy from now on.
The autism team told me that they used to do a 25 page report which basically went through all the elements of the assessment and described the findings. They then said that this had been discontinued as most people said it contained too much information and was overwhelming rather than helpful. My response was that I EAT information and would have preferred to have the report anyway.
What I received was a very brief letter and a statement that, "Yes, we will be making an ASD diagnosis today. Any questions?"
My first question had been, "Where's my in depth report?"
I could still certainly do with some bullet points but, after all of the delays and to-ing and fro-ing with the assessment process I just tired of getting, "Oh, we don't do that" type answers.
I feel quite sad about the negative statements you received though. I wonder whether the whole diagnostic process with it's focus on deficits and meeting rather basic diagnostic criteria is just designed to elicit stuff like this. Certainly when I've been providing information for my son's ongoing assessment I've felt steered towards negatives and have made a point of telling him that there are lots of positives that I think are almost deliberately excluded from this kind of assessment.
Maybe I'm better off without this kind of report. It sounds a bit like the school report from hell. :(
Yes, I would need to feel very safe about disclosing personal information to employers and, in the absence of that, I would pare it right down to very brief, factual information that is targeted towards the results you'd like to see. E.g. if you'd like a coach then maybe a brief outline about how this would help you and, in turn, the organisation too.
I guess the bottom line is that I don't feel very safe with employers though. To my mind the employer - employee relationship generally suffers from a huge power imbalance and I wouldn't trust them not to misuse their power. This also means that i'd be very guarded against giving them (or their henchmen in HR) anything which could later be used as ammunition against me.