Diagnosis without involving parent

I understand for a diagnosis it's likely that the diagnosis service will want to talk to a parent or someone who knew me as a young child. This is an idea that utterly fills me with dread for a whole bunch of reasons and has been the biggest barrier to me seeking a diagnosis. Has anyone here been diagnosed without involvement of a parent? Or refused a diagnosis because they couldn't/wouldn't involve a parent?

  • Hello Adam, I will be having my ASD assessment next month without my parents as they both have dementia.  The Psychologist knows this and said that it won't be a problem as we will work from my own memory and understanding of my early childhood.  Hope that makes sense.

  • You're a bad, bad boy

    But your secret's safe with me

    Ben

  • My mother lives in Spain, so I cut and pasted the section of the questionnaire I needed her to fill out. Then I emailed it to her and said I was involved in a research study for a friend. None of my family know I have now been diagnosed. shhh!

  • My folks are long gone and I was only diagnosed last year. My assessment team were happy with a personal history, self-report questionnaire, a conversation with my manager as well as an interview with me and face to face assessment. 

    If they'd been around it would have made things really difficult. My father was undiagnosed on the spectrum (I only figured that out when I knew what to look for) but my folks had a habit of dismissing everything - even when I was in crisis.  

  • Adam,

    I was diagnosed aged 67, so no parents were involved. Had they been still living,  I'm sure I wouldn't have included them.

    By being assessed alone, I think I was much more honest.

    Ben

  • When I had my assessments done I didnt involve my parents for the exact reason that they are almost deniers of it.  They knew about it, but they just constantly asked me what I hoped to achieve by doing it.  I said an answer of yes or no.  Its not like getting a degree.  its just nice to know if you are different because you are an oddball or because their is an underlying reason.

  • Thank you, that's very reassuring. That's my fear with my parent - that they would try to downplay anything that could be an indicator of autism

  • You don't need anyone  - you can do it on your own - I did.

    The big problem with parents is they can accidentally 'normalise' everything odd you did as a child - and there's a good chance one of them is undiagnosed too.   Smiley

    If you are on the spectrum, any good interviewer will spot it a mile away - you can't hide it if they know what to look for or what to ask.

  • I had my assessment without parents being present and it didn't affect the outcome.