Published on 12, July, 2020
Good Evening All,
I would love to formulate a post diagnostic course for Autistics or even a book. One that contains all of the information that I wish had been available to me when I had been diagnosed. That information that you spend hours and hours foraging for in the information jungle that is the world wide web. Information that is slowly learned from time spent with other Autistics but that would be so much more convenient and time saving to have in a nice neat easy to read and digest format.
So, what information would you want to see in a post diagnostic course or book?
A guide to interacting with essential services, such as the NHS. How to accurately communicate information to neurotypical people in a time-limited situation, such as a GP appointment. How to persuade them to take our problems seriously. How to request accommodations and get them.
My experience of talking to NT people is that it's like feeding information into a faulty processor. You say A, B, and C, and later look back on their notes from the conversation to see they've written down E, D, and K. There must be a technique for communicating with people who have what I call "neurotypical communication disorder" - the most helpful thing for me in a post-autism-diagnosis course would be to learn that technique.
I've been offered a follow-up appointment, but the topics suggested by my assessor to focus on are all about coming to terms with being autistic (I did that years ago, when I joined the waiting list for assessment) and social skills. I have no problems making friends, as I've found myself a social circle full of neurodivergent people, but I can't figure out how to navigate the NHS and have to rely on my ex to manage things like housing and utilities.
MrSolo said:You say A, B, and C, and later look back on their notes from the conversation to see they've written down E, D, and K.
At work I have learned to follow up such conversations with an email saying “we agreed the following….”.
Earlier in my career I had many instances of people blatantly denying what we had agreed.
You may call it “neurotypical communication disorder” but I think “neurotypical dishonesty” would be more accurate.