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ASD diagnosis

NAS71886

Hi,

I am new here.

I am self diagnosed and wondered if I should get an official diagnosis. One reason I am apprehensive is because I self consciously masked my potential autism up until a few years ago, (I am 34) when I discovered I may be autistic, now I consciously hide my traits. I feel like my family will feel like I have lied to them as I have never expressed any of my troubles. Like for example I suffered with selective mutism at secondary school, my family never found out, this is the first time I have ever mentioned it. At primary school I suffered with severe anxiety which my teachers picked up on and called my mother in to talk about it, they asked for permission to get me statemented but my mum said no because I seemed fine at home, my mum wasn’t even sure what statement meant? Neither do I? Does anyone else know? Did they pick up on my autism? I was always branded as a shy girl who just kept herself to her self, and I think that’s why I slipped under the net. I have never really had any true friends and find socialising incredibly hard. I think the positive of getting a diagnosis is that it would help me at work, people will understand me better and I’m hoping they could put things in place for me so I don’t struggle as much. 

Any help would be much appreciated 

  • NAS response, with links and tel. numbers

    "

    Thank you for sharing this with the community. You may like to look at our information about autism spectrum disorders:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/what-is-autism

     If you were interested in finding out if you are on the autism spectrum, you would need to have a formal diagnostic assessment. You may find it useful to have a look at the following link for further information about diagnosis and the benefits of getting one:

    https://www.autism.org.uk/advice-and-guidance/topics/diagnosis

     Furthermore, it is important the professional you see has experience of autism spectrum disorders. You can find details of diagnostic services on our Autism Services Directory in the Assessment and diagnosis section: http://www.autism.org.uk/directory.aspx

     If you have further questions, you may like to contact our Autism Helpline team. They can provide you with information and advice about getting a diagnosis. You can call them on 0808 800 4104 (Monday to Friday 10am to 3pm.Please note that the Helpline is experiencing a high volume of calls and it may take a couple of attempts before you get through to speak to an adviser.

    I hope this helps,

    "

  • you definitely need a diagnosis just so someone who is expert can assess you for autism and anxiety.  You sound autistic to me. Being female, means you should be assessed by someone experienced in female diagnoses.

    your teachers probably did suspect something was different about you  and they are usually correct.

    please go for a diagnosis.

    severe anxiety and depression are highly associated with autism. OCD and ADHD are likewise associated with autism. This is why you need to be seen by a professional just so all your issues are diagnosed. Severe anxiety is very debilitating.

    here is the pathway used by many people

    Make a list of reasons why u think u are autistic.

    include relatives in your family who are autistic or adhd or called weird/different

    and a list of occasions when u have been called weird, autistic, different

    the list should be electronic ie so you can email it to anyone who wants it.

    here are extra notes to add

    "The Girl With The Curly Hair" is a good website to visit BTW

  • "statemented" means the teachers want to put in writing that you have "exreme anxiety" or whaever they think so you can have special considartions during examinations etc and a way of backing up any diagnosis you are going for. Ie you could show their statement as evidence.