Published on 12, July, 2020
For the second time, I was told by a GP that I "suffer with autism"
No I don't. I am autistic and any suffering involved comes from my needs as an autistic person not being met predominantly, in fact, in health care settings.
Grrrrr! Partly venting my spleen here, but at the same time I know this faux pas is born of ignorance not wilful intention to insult. This GP was trying to be sympathetic, I'm sure. He does not seem to know much about autism though since he's asking the patient who has diagnoses of autism, dyslexia, Irlen's syndromes and has further been identified as a synesthete, whether I have an SPD diagnosis - excuse me while I bang my head on brick wall (metaphorically, of course).
Then he stated I "suffer" with autism.
Are you folks getting the same from health care professionals? And how do you go about correcting them?
This obviously isn't his fault. It's just ignorance because he hasn't been trained. But none of us is getting very far, if our GPs don't understand what being autistic means. I'm wondering if it's time I popped my old trainer's hat back on and offered to do some training sessions for them free of charge.
Knowledge is power. It sucks that it is up to us to educate the world when our heads are already spinning. And yes a lot of GP's are not educated on the subject of Autism.
Exactly. I can self advocate until the point I am in a medical situation, and can't communicate at all. That's when I need everyone to understand, no body does and I can't tell them what the need is.
Ahhh that's rough. I think I used to be like that because the power dynamic caused by their medical authority and you are in THEIR work place sets off a kind of anxiety like you feel like you aren't allowed to question them in anyway or that if you do they will just squash your concerns down rather than actually reassuring you. I can't remember exactly how I broke out of that now, but I know at some point I did.
Yes, I had that a lot prior to my diagnosis. I could never quite express what was wrong, not even rate pain for them, in a way they understood and then they'd get shirty with me thinking I was just being difficult.
I can see now that we were just speaking different languages. Now they know I am autistic, they are more patient, but they still don't get why it's difficult for me to express the problem or receive the information from them. That's where I really need a go between to ensure I am actually getting any health care.