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20 Year Old Woman Diagnosis

tia t

I’m 20 years old (female) and I’ve had the suspicion that I’m autistic for a while now; I scored 193 on the RAADS-R test. I had all the signs as a child but my mother was too proud of my intelligence to get me diagnosed and chose to ignore the signs, and also because I’m female I probably slipped through the cracks in school.

I have absolutely no idea where to start regarding getting a diagnosis and I can’t believe I’ll have to wait another TWO YEARS, AT LEAST for the assessment. I really need this diagnosis so I can get the support I need at work and at university when I decide to go back (I dropped out of uni because I was expected to perform the same as a NT person and obviously that’s not how it works!).

Neither of my parents are in my life anymore and obviously since I left school quite some time ago ago there isn’t many people who knew me well enough as a child who could fill in that form (I can’t remember what it’s called).

Any advice on how to get the ball rolling? 

  • As others have said, ask for a referral from the gp. Also ask if they can pay for an assessment via a private provider. Not many will say yes. Think about the private route. You can ask to pay in installments which might be easier to manage if your appointments are evenly spaced.

    Regarding the developmental questionnaire, you can answer a lot yourself. You can also check with your mother about how long your birth was, what type etc, and any accidents or illnesses you might have had. Try to get a bit of info on other relatives were useful, and think about you, how you played, what you enjoyed, how many friends you had, things you found difficult etc as a child. That should be more than enough, when coupled with the other questionnaires, the interview and the observations.

  • Hi, I would suggest to try doing parallel planning. Talk to your GP as soon as you can to get onto the NHS waiting list- You could take your score from the RAADS-R test with you and if it helps you you could make a list of traits to take with you. I would also contact the university and see if they have a service that might be able to help- for my university this was the disability resource centre- at my uni they offered preliminary/screening assessments for autism (and learning disabilities etc.) as well as advice. For a friend of mine the university ended up even paying for him to be assessed privately as he had been waiting for over 3 years for an NHS assessment and needed adjustments- I have no idea if this was just an exception but I think it would definitely be good to talk to the university and see what they can offer to support you while you are waiting for an assessment. Finally if you do want to go for a private assessment , I can recommend contacting Sara Heath, who is the one that organised my diagnosis and I had a very positive experience https://www.shropshireautonomy.co.uk/autonomyplus/pre-diagnostic

    I was diagnosed very recently only at age 25 and I wish I had known sooner. I hope you manage to get an assessment and the support you need from university. Best, Ann

  • Hi, first step is to see your GP who can then refer you.  Make a list of the reasons why you think you are autistic. I found it easier to do this as I knew I would ‘seize’ and not remember a lot of it. An assessment can be carried out without a parents input. I’m in my 50’s and don’t have a parent who can help. You know how you feel and how your childhood was. You may find that once you start processing your life, memories will start flooding back and it all starts to really make sense. School reports are another way showing how you was at school. Good luck, I haven’t regretted going down the diagnosis route. The waiting is the worst part. If you want a quicker assessment then obviously there is the private route.