Published on 12, July, 2020
I went through a diagnosis late last year through the NHS and they have said that I don't meet all 3 criteria. I don't have enough compulsions or rituals.
I don't think they went into it enough, I always step off pavements with my left foot, I count the steps to get past houses etc and I practice stimming a lot to such an extent I have callouses on the backs of my thumbs but, at 58 I don't think there is much they can do anyway so probably not worth arguing about it. So I need to work out, like a few others, am I really Autistic or just weird?
Could you go for a 2nd opinion?
I don't know, I found the first one to be quite stressful in a way, there are lots of questions about childhood which I can't remember and it almost seemed that if you can't remember it goes against you. The questions also seemed to be asked in such a way that they expected an answer from a normal point of view and as one of my coping mechanisms is to agree with NT's then I thin k I put on a poor show. I had to wait for nearly a year to see them and in between I found this site and talked to others who said a diagnosis at my age wouldn't change things really.