Assessment for diagnosis waiting time

It tends to be as long or longer in most areas, for an NHS assessment. Asking for a 'right to choose' referral through the NHS for an assessment by a private provider (i.e. the NHS pays for you to see a non-NHS clinician) might speed things up, if you can get it. Paying for a private assessment is the fastest of all - I paid early last year and waited 3 weeks.

Hi, 

I know a private assessment and diagnosis is faster, but I was told at university and college, that if you get a private diagnosis and/or assessment, sometimes they weren’t accepted as proof of a disability. Is this true and has anyone else heard this? I distinctly remember being told this at college/university levels and by more than one person, both students and staff/support staff. 

Autism is assumed to be a disability from the point of view of anti-discrimination legislation, but to get benefits you may have to show how your autism disables you. This is really from the point of view of governmental benefits like PIP. I am autistic, but would not be awarded PIP because I have many decades of being able to cope without it behind me. For employers and places of education, a valid diagnosis of ASD should be sufficient to gain accommodations. A valid diagnosis is dependent on the qualifications of the clinician or clinicians making the diagnosis, not where the money to pay for the assessment came from.

From the official NICE clinical guidelines for the assessment of ASD - the Department of Health: "Diagnostic assessment, which in the UK uses ICD-10, is often within a multi-disciplinary team but at a minimum is by a qualified clinician, usually a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist." From the document: Autism Recognition, referral, diagnosis and management of adults on the autism spectrum, National Clinical Guideline Number 142, p. 25. 

If you notice there is no mention of funding, just the qualification of the clinician doing the assessment.

The ridiculousness of the view that private autism diagnoses are not valid is highlighted by comparing it to someone who has a private diagnosis of sight loss, would the person who has become blind not be considered  as disabled as if they had had a NHS diagnosis?

Autism is assumed to be a disability from the point of view of anti-discrimination legislation, but to get benefits you may have to show how your autism disables you. This is really from the point of view of governmental benefits like PIP. I am autistic, but would not be awarded PIP because I have many decades of being able to cope without it behind me. For employers and places of education, a valid diagnosis of ASD should be sufficient to gain accommodations. A valid diagnosis is dependent on the qualifications of the clinician or clinicians making the diagnosis, not where the money to pay for the assessment came from.

From the official NICE clinical guidelines for the assessment of ASD - the Department of Health: "Diagnostic assessment, which in the UK uses ICD-10, is often within a multi-disciplinary team but at a minimum is by a qualified clinician, usually a clinical psychologist, psychiatrist or neurologist." From the document: Autism Recognition, referral, diagnosis and management of adults on the autism spectrum, National Clinical Guideline Number 142, p. 25. 

If you notice there is no mention of funding, just the qualification of the clinician doing the assessment.

The ridiculousness of the view that private autism diagnoses are not valid is highlighted by comparing it to someone who has a private diagnosis of sight loss, would the person who has become blind not be considered  as disabled as if they had had a NHS diagnosis?