Published on 12, July, 2020
Just collated this list..........honestly I will stop thinking about it soon & getting it down here will help get my mind off it (stops me worrying that I'll forget something!).
Still haven't had official confirmation of my ADOS date (told by phone last week that it's mid July) but will be glad to get it done.
Still can't imagine how ADOS will fill in the gaps, as it focusses on Social aspects rather than RRBs ..................
Score on the RBQ2a (a new standardised self-report on Restricted and Repetitive behaviours in Adults) is 1.6. This is 0.53 standard deviations away from the ASD score in the reference, and 1.84 standard deviations away from the NT score.
EDIT 5th June 2019 - added a few extras to the list and decided I'm going to print out and show my GP when I see her later this month...........
Can I just clarify: Even though you do have routines (as you've stated) because they don't cause significant difficulties it's been dismissed as a symptom of autism? Avoiding going on holiday or certain events and even eating the same thing everyday seems significant to me? If you're able to accommodate and adapt to changes in routine is it not through learnt behaviour through years of masking?
Original Prankster makes a valid point too
Yes is appears so. Several times in my clinical interview I was asked "But you *could* do it?" when asked about things like changes in routine that would cause me anxiety and stress. It's almost like you have to present as inflexibly as a mechanical robot with hard limits for the symptoms to count.
So the fact that I can *force* myself to sit in a noisy pub beyond the point where I would naturally choose to leave means that I'm not limited by my aversion to chaotic noise. The fact that I *can* tear myself away from my isolated hobby to socialise with unexpected house guests means that my inner yearning to get back to my solitary thoughts isn't relevant.
This strikes me as not recognising the huge effort needed to comply, that has led on a couple of occasions to burnout.
Because I've learned to cope, I have no problems (rolleyes).
And so lies the fundamental problem with mental illnesses again. I can't see an effect so it mustn't be that bad (or happening at all).
Sometimes people get ill, physically ill (wow, I can see you are ill!), but they power through and still turn up to work because of a good work ethic. Does this mean, on the same basis, that they are not ill? Because they are able to appear to function as normal?
I'm done with Christmas Cards said:This strikes me as not recognising the huge effort needed to comply, that has led on a couple of occasions to burnout
A very important point. Whilst you are able to cope in the moment, therefore seemingly not having a negative impact, it contributes to a burnout. So although it may appear invalid in one capacity, overall and in the context of autism, it has a cumulative serious impact. Forcing to comply is related to a burnout which is related to autism.
I only know you through a serious of conversations on a forum yet, along with other posters, we seem to be joining the dots more accurately than the professionals??
Thank you, it means a lot that I have found so much in common with others on the spectrum, and almost wish that a "Proposer and seconder drawn from the autistic community" would be sufficient to diagnose a new member! I'm sure that the interactions I've had here, on other forums and in a previous life on Twitter could yield at least twenty or so diagnosed autistic people willing to say "Yep, he's one of us".
But I get the impression that the process I've encountered starts off on the assumption that you're not autistic and then sets out to prove that assumption, rather than listening objectively and seeking to explain difficulties stated by the patient.
I fully understand that "Dr Google" is the bane of medical professionals' lives, and similarly self-diagnosis can be founded on confirmation bias which has to be challenged (and in my case, I *want* it to be challenged so that I can be sure) but there seems to be a reluctance to ask "do you have anything else that might fit this pattern?".