What have you achieved from getting diagnosed?

I haven't been diagnosed. I am really very certain that I have aspergers though. A diagnosis wouldn't change anything about the way I act. I have always accepted that my behaviour is weird and never really been bothered about it.

What I do want a diagnosis for though is for situations that are made awkward by not be able to be socially normal. In particular interviews for jobs etc. Almost every single job interview I have ever had has been a complete failure (and I have had A LOT of interviews). I have had several jobs but each of them required no interview. Unfortunately it is rare that no interview is required. Interviews for most jobs seems to be largely a case of how well people click with the interviewer I think. I understand that I come across as flat, maybe not particularly friendly but to the point. I have also had interviewers literally shouting at me and telling me off for being too straightforward with my answers before!

A diagnosis would at least let me point to it and say "Look, my interview technique is terrible, but that doesn't even matter for the job. I am more than capable of doing the job to a very good standard, so please just recognise that I have aspergers and base the interview on how well I can perform in a job rather than how genuine my smile looks and how good my 'banter' is (or isn't at all!)".

Do you think that you will pursue getting a diagnosis?

Sorry to hear that you struggle with interviews. I've heard that this can be an issue for some autistic people. I've also heard that you can get interview help and practice interview skills somewhere, does anyone else know where and with whom please? If no one answers that then Citizen's Advice Bureau may know the answer. An interviewer should not be shouting at you! That's really bad! I imagine that you probably didn't want a job with them after that! Another thing that really helped me for those times when I 'feel' that I do need to mask was reading and studying Daniel Wendler's 'improve your social skills'. It's not for everyone but I found it 'really' useful. He's Aspie too so everything is explained really well in the book. 

Hope this helps!

I did speak to a doctor before to try get a diagnosis when I was expecting to have a bunch of interviews in the near future.  He said that he would arrange an appointment to see someone and I would hear from them, but I moved house shortly after and never followed it up.

To be honest I don't know what to say to a doctor about this anyway, which is why I've never bothered again. It was very awkward first time I spoke to one.

In regard to interviews, I have had plenty of these interview help sessions etc. I get what I am ideally 'supposed' to say or how I'm 'supposed' to act in these formal situations. But it is one thing knowing and another actually pulling it off. It isn't something that really bothers me in any emotional sense. I really don't much care if I fail an interview because it is just normal to me not to ever pass haha. I'm am a very laid back person, so I do tend to brush these things off. 

The part where a diagnosis comes in is more for practical reasons - to actually have something to refer to in order to pass interviews by encouraging interviewers to take into account that, say, not being able to make eye contact might be awkward in a social sense but is irrelevant to whether I can do a particular job, so should not be held against me.

I did speak to a doctor before to try get a diagnosis when I was expecting to have a bunch of interviews in the near future.  He said that he would arrange an appointment to see someone and I would hear from them, but I moved house shortly after and never followed it up.

To be honest I don't know what to say to a doctor about this anyway, which is why I've never bothered again. It was very awkward first time I spoke to one.

In regard to interviews, I have had plenty of these interview help sessions etc. I get what I am ideally 'supposed' to say or how I'm 'supposed' to act in these formal situations. But it is one thing knowing and another actually pulling it off. It isn't something that really bothers me in any emotional sense. I really don't much care if I fail an interview because it is just normal to me not to ever pass haha. I'm am a very laid back person, so I do tend to brush these things off. 

The part where a diagnosis comes in is more for practical reasons - to actually have something to refer to in order to pass interviews by encouraging interviewers to take into account that, say, not being able to make eye contact might be awkward in a social sense but is irrelevant to whether I can do a particular job, so should not be held against me.

The referral that your Doctor made should still be on record/in the system regardless of whether you are now registered with the same or a different GP. Have you considered finding out what happened with it? Having a diagnosis might come in useful in the future, not just for job interviews. 

Before I asked my GP to refer me I made a list of all the historical ‘evidence’ that pointed to me having ASD. I also asked a couple of friends who work with autistic children, for their opinion. This gave me something to refer to when I actually saw the doctor. 

It’s good that you’re able to ‘brush off’ the interviews that haven’t gone to plan but I would imagine that it’s still not a very pleasant experience to have to go through? Especially if you are competent enough for the job! 

Unfortunately interview performance counts for a lot when it comes to getting a job or not, regardless of whether or not s person is diagnosed with autism. Have you tried ‘eye contact modulation’ techniques, just to use in an interview? I use these when I am at work so as to avoid doing my usual extreme eye contact thing of either completely avoiding eye contact or conversely accidentally staring people out!