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Should I get diagnosed officially?

Grace

Hey! So I need some help.. Ever since primary school I have suffered with social situations, making friends, bullying etc. I am now 21 and after having counselling since I was 14 years old and not really getting any help/any better I've come to the conclusion there must be something else going on. 

It first started when I watched a documentary on a famous women who has autism and so do her 3 children. Her personality and ways she deals with different situations is very very similar to me! I then remembered that in college, after struggling a lot to deal with work load, focusing, remembering information and making friends, they asked if I had ever been tested for autism. 

So it got me thinking...could I be autistic? So here I am, after reading a lot of articles on autism, taken multiple online autism tests (and scoring very very high, results saying I indicate significant autistic traits) wondering what the next step is. 

I am in two minds, one half of me wants to get an official diagnosis so that I can have access to support systems aimed at adults with autism and finally find ways to cope with day to day things. The other half of me thinks that I can work with this myself and accept the fact I am highly likely to be autistic (I am totally at peace with this, I actually feel like this has taken a massive weight off my shoulders). 

For years and years I have always wondered, why me? Why do I struggle with day to day things, struggle to make/keep friends, get extremely overwhelmed with loud noises, have major meltdowns over tiny things and then can't get out of this mindset? But after myself and my mum who I am very close with having a 'light bulb' moment that I am probably autistic, I finally feel like I belong and actually there is nothing wrong with the person that I am! But I need help, I need ways to cope with all these overwhelming feelings and thoughts.

So yeah... please help! Is it worth getting an 'official' diagnosis from a medical professional? What benefits/negatives have you experienced either getting a diagnosis or not? 

Hope to hear from lots of you soon! 

Grace xo

Parents Reply Children
  • in reply to Grace

    None in relation to autism at the moment as I'm going through the diagnostic process.  I have had adjustments provided by access to work though.

    I work on an IT service desk for the NHS but because of my MS I went hard of hearing about 3 years ago and use 2 hearing aids.  Almost 2 years ago I lost the ability to speak fluently and I'm currently losing my vision as well.

    For my hearing, access to work provided some Phonak Roger equipment (about £4.5K worth) to enable the phone at work to connect directly to my hearing aids, blocking out all other sound from the office.

    For my speech, access to work provided an iPad Pro with software named Predictable (around £1500 worth) which is AAC software which can speak for me and much more besides.  

    For my vision the low vision clinic have provided me with an illuminated magnifier with a stand to read documents and some special glasses for reading computer screens.  I also need to wear varifocal glasses now as my regular specs.  The optometrist mentioned 3 times during the examination that it was "because of your age", I've just hit 45 lol!!

    None-tangible adjustments have been doubling of sickness triggers and the ability to work from home one day a week as I have visits from district nurses for catheter care.