• Replies 15 replies
  • Subscribers 83 subscribers
  • Views 5268 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

What to expect from diagnostic test (adult)?

Greenfly

Hello!

I am new here. After time in camhs and adult mental health services and (what I believe to be) misdiagnosis of anxiety, depression and EDNOS, I have now been referred to be tested for ASD.

I don't know what to expect from this at all which is causing me a lot of stress. Could someone share their experiences of adult diagnosis? What should I expect? All I have been told is that I have an appointment with an "advanced nurse practitioner". 

Thank you very much!

Parents

  • Another thing id like to add which is a negative sadly that diagnosis doesnt mean extra help. I got my diagnosis 4 years ago and since then had no autism specific help offered to me at all. It helps proffessionsls amd urself to know what to expect maybe from u but i got no extra or specific autism help. There are charitys out there though that can help.

Reply

  • Another thing id like to add which is a negative sadly that diagnosis doesnt mean extra help. I got my diagnosis 4 years ago and since then had no autism specific help offered to me at all. It helps proffessionsls amd urself to know what to expect maybe from u but i got no extra or specific autism help. There are charitys out there though that can help.

Children
  • in reply to Alittlelost

    Yes I see unfortunately this is the case for many. For me I think the main goal I want from diagnosis is peace of mind, knowing that what I feel and go through is a result of this and the issues I have arent "issues" they're just me. I hope you find support on here and in other communities too! Thank you for your comment.

  • in reply to Alittlelost

    Sadly, that's all too familiar. I did manage to get an advocate for a while from a local mental health organisation; which I'm very thankful for, as I would never have made it through appealing a dodgy PIP decision otherwise (I went from zero points to nearly twenty!) But he rang me up shortly before my final appeal hearing to say that they'd lost their funding, and that was it.

    The Autism Act legislation that the NAS is so fond of trumpeting its role in was a bit of a con-trick, IMHO. It's obligations were primarily dumped onto local authorities - just as the very same Government which enacted the legislation was sucking away the funding that those local authorities need to provide even exisiting services, never mind the new ones which the Act insists upon.

    In my area alone, I know of at least three disability advocacy services, two of which I've used myself, which have had to shut up shop because their local authority grants were not renewed - and of course, the single surviving one simply hasn't the resources to take on the others' former caseloads. The required services are nominally there, in that the social services and local NHS units exist - so the LA can claim to be meeting their legal obligations,. But the providers are free to choose the conditions for access, and can simply pass the buck back and forth between each other. I've been refused access to mental health services because I'm supposedly social services' responsibility; but when I tried them, they just bounced me straight back again - both agree that I should be receiving support, but neither will accept the responsibility.

    Like so many of us, the outcome is that I have a formal diagnosis which doesn't actually open up access to anything (the DWP ignore it completely, so without an advocate, I will very likely lose my PIP this year when it comes up for renewal - another two-year long appeal isn't very, erm... appealing!)

    I'm very, very glad that, even if it's only via the internet, we have each other for support.