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Disclosing you have Autism?

Shadweller

How have things gone if you have disclosed you have (or think you have) Autism to anyone?

So far I have not told anyone 'In Real Life', I will probably wait until after diagnosis before I seriously consider it.

But I can sort of imagine some various outcomes ahead of actually doing this for real. In an ideal world, people would understand and make allowances for any difficulties. Obviously though we don't live in an ideal world, so I can imagine any such disclosures having an opposite effect to the desired one, so that instead of understanding and acceptance,  a disclosure could lead to fear, and even being treated as even more weird, and being ostracised even further. I have also heard of disclosures leading people to be dismissed from work a few weeks afterwards. For ostensibly different reasons, because discrimination is illegal.

It's clearly going to depend who you tell.If you are lucky enough to have understanding close family and friends, a disclosure will probably only bring you closer. Not everyone has such good relationships though.

Parents

  • I recently got a diagnosis and will be very careful about who I tell. 

    If you have a private diagnosis, do you tell the GP? 

    If you do, you aren't, in fact, telling the GP.  You're telling the NHS, which is one of the world's biggest employers. 

    The GP may change, in the future, from a enlightened one to a moron.

    There are currently strong guidelines about confidentiality, but if the Pentagon and IT security companies can be hacked, so can the NHS.

    Also, the current strong confidentiality rules may change in the future.  Probably not, but if you're (say) in your 20s, who knows what will happen to that information before you die, hopefully in your 80s or 90s or beyond?  

    My autism doesn't affect language or cognitive function and I take the view that most people don't need to know. 

    But it's possible that there is an 80% inheritance factor, so I am going to tell people if the genetic path indicates they may also be on the spectrum.  I think that's only fair, but will ask for confidentiality.   

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  • I recently got a diagnosis and will be very careful about who I tell. 

    If you have a private diagnosis, do you tell the GP? 

    If you do, you aren't, in fact, telling the GP.  You're telling the NHS, which is one of the world's biggest employers. 

    The GP may change, in the future, from a enlightened one to a moron.

    There are currently strong guidelines about confidentiality, but if the Pentagon and IT security companies can be hacked, so can the NHS.

    Also, the current strong confidentiality rules may change in the future.  Probably not, but if you're (say) in your 20s, who knows what will happen to that information before you die, hopefully in your 80s or 90s or beyond?  

    My autism doesn't affect language or cognitive function and I take the view that most people don't need to know. 

    But it's possible that there is an 80% inheritance factor, so I am going to tell people if the genetic path indicates they may also be on the spectrum.  I think that's only fair, but will ask for confidentiality.   

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