What to do when the NHS says your not autistic?

If you believe yourself to be autistic, you will be entitled to a second opinion. But first you need to wait for the reasons why they consider you not so to be.  Read this carefully and find points you consider to be wrong.

Remember that even if you are not autistic, there are reasons for the difficulties you have, and there are many overlaps between the characteristics of for example, ADHD, Bi Polar, OCD and BPD for example.  It should not be a fishing expedition to try to get you diagnosed with something but a way of trying to find out why you feel the way you do.  

The main thing to bear in mind is how your condition affects your everyday life, as if it does not appear to cause any problems you are unlikely to get help even if diagnosed.  So make a list of the ways you are affected.  For example, do you mix socially with people, and if you do are you then ignored by others or made to feel an outsider, do you misunderstand others or do they misunderstand you, do any of your senses get overloaded (sight, sounds, smell or taste or do you not like others to be close to you), are you clumsy, or say the wrong thing or are rather abrupt, easily upsetting others, do you cope with changes when you are not in control, do you suffer from chronic anxiety and depression, etc, etc.  

I think that some attempt should be made by the person who assessed you or your GP to try to find what is causing your problems even if it is not autism.  After all if you were suffering physical symptoms and you had an x ray  to find if you had broken a bone and this found that you hadn't, you would expect further investigation to ascertain the cause of the pain.  And it should be the same with neurodiverse conditions.

If you believe yourself to be autistic, you will be entitled to a second opinion. But first you need to wait for the reasons why they consider you not so to be.  Read this carefully and find points you consider to be wrong.

Remember that even if you are not autistic, there are reasons for the difficulties you have, and there are many overlaps between the characteristics of for example, ADHD, Bi Polar, OCD and BPD for example.  It should not be a fishing expedition to try to get you diagnosed with something but a way of trying to find out why you feel the way you do.  

The main thing to bear in mind is how your condition affects your everyday life, as if it does not appear to cause any problems you are unlikely to get help even if diagnosed.  So make a list of the ways you are affected.  For example, do you mix socially with people, and if you do are you then ignored by others or made to feel an outsider, do you misunderstand others or do they misunderstand you, do any of your senses get overloaded (sight, sounds, smell or taste or do you not like others to be close to you), are you clumsy, or say the wrong thing or are rather abrupt, easily upsetting others, do you cope with changes when you are not in control, do you suffer from chronic anxiety and depression, etc, etc.  

I think that some attempt should be made by the person who assessed you or your GP to try to find what is causing your problems even if it is not autism.  After all if you were suffering physical symptoms and you had an x ray  to find if you had broken a bone and this found that you hadn't, you would expect further investigation to ascertain the cause of the pain.  And it should be the same with neurodiverse conditions.