Hello all, I'm a bit nervous as this is my first post and I will try (and likely fail) to restrain from my innate tendency to ramble and over-explain, so apologies if this is convoluted! I've been finding the NAS community a great source of information and it seems a very supportive place indeed.
In short, I had somewhat of an epiphany about a year and a half ago regarding my discovery that I could very well be on the autistic spectrum - likely Asperger's (though I know that diagnostic term is now somewhat defunct). This realisation - if of course validated - is overarchingly such a positive one and essentially, a huge sense of relief for me, a 45 year old female. It all explains so, so much when everything else never seemed to satisfactorily answer my lifelong questions, issues and essentially, what makes me, me.
After much extensive research and anxious deliberation I have now embarked upon the (epic) assessment journey. I recently got confirmation of my referral and received the pre-assessment questionnaire from my local ASD service. I'm based on the Wirral, Merseyside and the service I've been referred to is the CWP CRAC ASD service which is the default pathway for my CCG, although in my letter to my GP I had actually requested a preference to another out of area service via Patient Choice ... My stated preference was for Axia-ASD in Chester as I'd heard good things about them on here and elsewhere and how they are recommended for their assessment of adult females. I am now not sure whether to follow up and enquire with my GP to pursue my preference for Axia via Patient Choice which of course could be a stressful back and forth struggle ... Or to accept that I am now on the designated pathway, of which I am grateful. I am tempted to the latter as I'm not one for confrontation and this is, I'm sure most of you understand, the beginning of an emotional journey as it is. I really have no idea how progressive and attuned the CWP CRAC service are with adult female diagnosis and I could be worrying over nothing. However this has made me rather anxious now as I'm concerned that my accomplished masking and of course other more nuanced presentation of traits - apparently typical of adult females - may perhaps be overlooked and dependent on their particular diagnostic approach. I feel terrible for being potentially mistrustful of any clinical experts in their field, but I have read a lot of negative accounts regarding a tendency for misdiagnosis or dismissal of adult females for these reasons and at the end of the day it will be a combination of subjective opinion and expertise that deems a "yes or a "no". As I say, I have no idea about their particular ethos and approach regarding adult females and any projections are simply borne out of my fear of the unknown, so I don't mean to discredit them in particular, unfairly without reason. I am just basically fearful I may not get a 'fair hearing'. So, other than possibly contacting them directly to (diplomatically!) enquire and seek some reassurance, I thought I'd reach out here by asking whether anyone here has actually undergone an assessment with the CWP ASD service at all? Any information whatsoever on your experience would be very much appreciated. Of course, I'm most interested to hear from adult females in particular, but I would nevertheless value hearing (reading) anyone's experience of CWP's ASD service in general. I think the renowned Autism Champion head of the service has recently left, so it would perhaps also be good to know when people actually had their assessments ...
Hopefully someone can allay my fears as I've been ruminating terribly and I think I may have to endure it for the long stretch ahead! Thank you for reading and again, apologies for any negativity (and poor writing) ...