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Is it worth me seeking a formal diagnosis?

NAS85297

Hey everyone

I'm a 17 yr old who will be 18 relatively soon. Looking at the resources about autism, I've come to the conclusion that I am quite probably autistic. Once I came to this conclusion, I decided to inform my parents for advice on what the next steps I should take are. They had a very negative reaction to this and discouraged me to pursue it any further. They insist that I cannot have it, but their reasoning doesn't make sense.

I don't think what I have negatively affects my progress at school / in exams but I do believe it to cause some trouble getting round to preparing for exams. I will be in university in some time, but I have no clue whether I will need additional support.

I made the decision to pursue a formal diagnosis myself once I am 18 without doing a lot of research into what this would mean for me, and this is what I had in mind for a while. However recently, I have done some more looking into it and found some awful reports about the treatment of diagnosed autistic people (i.e. migration, legal and medical autonomy, adoption, etc) and I am no longer sure whether it is worth seeking this diagnosis without much certainty to whether it will assist me in life in getting support I may need. It feels like it would've been more worth it had I figured this out earlier, but now I am afraid of the downsides.

Based on the limited info I've given, do you think it is worth continuing to pursue a diagnosis? I'm sorry if this whole post is vague or not what this forum is for. I just need some other perspectives.

Parents

  • This is definitely what this forum is for so don't worry!  Your parents might understandably not know much about autism and may have an idea in their heads of what an autistic person looks which might not be like you.  I don't have a diagnosis and haven't even managed to get on the waiting list yet, but I would recommend trying to get an assessment based on what I do know. I have struggled through many university courses over my lifetime and if I had a diagnosis and had asked for help it might have been easier.

    As for the horror stories, they may be the extreme cases so unless you are a migrant looking to be adopted you may not need to worry but I can't truly comment as I don't have a diagnosis.

    Others who have gone through diagnosis might be able to give you more advice. What I do know is that there are lots of people on this forum much older than you are who wish they had known they were autistic at your age which would support the argument for asking for an assessment when you can.

Reply

  • This is definitely what this forum is for so don't worry!  Your parents might understandably not know much about autism and may have an idea in their heads of what an autistic person looks which might not be like you.  I don't have a diagnosis and haven't even managed to get on the waiting list yet, but I would recommend trying to get an assessment based on what I do know. I have struggled through many university courses over my lifetime and if I had a diagnosis and had asked for help it might have been easier.

    As for the horror stories, they may be the extreme cases so unless you are a migrant looking to be adopted you may not need to worry but I can't truly comment as I don't have a diagnosis.

    Others who have gone through diagnosis might be able to give you more advice. What I do know is that there are lots of people on this forum much older than you are who wish they had known they were autistic at your age which would support the argument for asking for an assessment when you can.

Children
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