Published on 12, July, 2020
Afternoon all,
I've recently had my assessment feedback which said the ADOS (the assessor observing me now) suggested I met the criteria for autism. However the ADI (the assessor speaking to other people about me) said I didn't meet the threshold because I have no close friends or family that can provide the required info on observations of others now or as a child.
They said it didn't really matter as they'd just recommend therapy whether I'm autistic or not. To me, understanding the root cause of my problems is really important and now I just feel a bit of a fraud.
Has anyone else had this and what did you do about it?
Thank you :-)
Evening Seejal,
I agree with you. If you are having problems, then you should need to understand the root cause and/or other causes of them.
That will take some time to untangle and think through - inevitably - irrespective of what the ADOS or ADI wrote down.
Keep seeking your root. Autism is obvious an appropriate reality to start researching for yourself - so go for it.
There are many fraudsters and vagabonds in this place, so don't worry yourself about feeling like a fraud. [Disambiguation - I don't mean of the nefarious type, more of the 'nut job' crazy human variety]
You are welcome here.
Number
Thanks All My Friends, I don't think there is as it's a private company. It would be difficult to provide that much extra info anyway - I don't have any close friends and my parents are very private people and just say I was a normal child. I can't remember much about my childhood - it's weird I can remember snapshots but not people. I know I had a friend in primary school but I can't remember what she looked like or what we did - but I can remember her beautiful red setter in detail. It's quite upsetting.
I wonder if there's an appeals process or if you can request another ADI. That is just completely unethical to me and an abuse of power.
Hi have not time to go into detail at the moment but some assessments or assessors require an informant others not so. I had a disco assessment. The assessor wanted an informant. I was informed by someone else who had a disco assessment that an informant was not required with a disco assessment. I discovered that the assessor wanted and informant it seems as part of their training so I went along with it. There has been other stuff I have read that it is recognised that some people do not have an informant which in some cases is do do with age but should not go against verification of a diagnosis. Don’t feel like a fraud. As long as there are enough verifications you are genuine.
Annoyingly they spent a lot of time asking me about my mental health history and there was what seemed like less focus on asking about childhood experiences. I get that there are diagnostic criteria and it's important to work out whether they're met, but it didn't feel like they tried too hard to untangle the issues and they didn't think it was important (to me, understanding the reasons why is really important!!). Oh well.
I didn't have that experience. While I didn't have people that could attest to my childhood, the assessor just believed me when she asked me about it. It would make no sense for me to lie about it. What the ADI person is doing sounds like gatekeeping. What sense does it make to deny a diagnosis because some of the evidence isn't practically available? You would think that if there is vagueness, then the obvious decision is to error on the side of supporting, not withholding. To me, it's unbelievable that some medical providers act like security guards rather than helpers. Ugh. I'm mad for you.