Any last minute tips for getting my GP to take me seriously when asking for a referral?

Aww, glad they came through in the end :)

I'm so, so glad to hear that!!

He's awesome, he's been such a great support in all of this, from when we thought it was "just" depression and anxiety, to having our son assessed and diagnosed, to me thinking I might be ASC as well.

Absolutely amazing news! Well done for getting through such a difficult situation. I hope you had some good, much deserved, rest last night. I'm so glad to hear as well that your husband was supportive throughout this process that is so lovely to hear, even if he wasn't needed in the end.

I've managed to eat dinner and think I might actually manage to sleep tonight which will be nice.

Well done you. Deep breaths and calm.

Congratulations. Well done.

They're willing to do the referral! The senior GP overruled the one I spoke with initially, and has agreed to do the referral under the Right to Choose to Psychiatry UK. I had my husband all prepped to argue with them but he didn't need to. I'm now cry tears of relief and shaking, I might even manage to eat later!

The only people I choose to speak to on the phone are people who universally talk nearly non-stop so I don't really have to talk much, unless it's responding to direct questions. I'm now wondering whether that's something I've done unconsciously!

Roy said:

I’ve said before, if you can’t see the other person, how are you supposed to know when to talk?

I have spent decades being baffled by the popularity of the telephone for this reason. I have had hundreds of phone conversations and not a single one has gone well because there is simply no way of knowing when to speak.

Yes, that did seem to be what the doctor was saying. This feels similar to what Steven said earlier, with us having to obviously pretend to be able to get a diagnosis.

My impression (having had this conversation last year) is that GPs are less interested in whether or not you are likely to actually be autistic when deciding whether to refer you, and more interested in what benefit the diagnosis will bring you. If you say "I need it for work" or "I am thinking of going back into education and would need accommodations to do that" (this is the line I used) they are more likely to refer you.

Fingers crossed for you!! 

He's said he needs to speak to a senior GP so depending what he says when he calls back I'll ask to speak to the senior one. Hopefully they might have a bit more of an awareness of what "spectrum" means.

I'm very similar, I need those visual cues to work out what to do, although I also miss them entirely sometimes.

I very rarely use telephones, it’s an entire conversation of me saying sorry because I’m talking over someone else. I’ve said before, if you can’t see the other person, how are you supposed to know when to talk? Plus sometimes I’ve got something to say that really interests me so  that has to all come out in a way that sounds interesting to me!

I'm the same with non-scheduled phonecalls. My anxiety goes through the roof. Remember that you should be able to get a second opinion from another GP if this conversation doesn't go to plan.

Thank you. I'm trying to get my thoughts together for when he calls back, although the uncertainty on when that will be isn't helping. I'm hoping my husband might be back by then as he can deal with these sort of conversations much more easily than I can.

I sat down with the DSM 5 criteria and worked my way through making notes, as well as looking into comorbidities, and any ASC non-specific neurodivergent characteristics so I definitely had that covered. One of the questions from the AQ50 is not know when it's your turn to speak, or speaking too much, I pretty much hit both of those straight away!

Yes - yours is a fair comment.  It isn't my job to give myself a headache learning about autism.....but it is kinda their job to.......so when they get the basics wrong, they could (and almost certainly do) send some poor autistic brothers and sisters to the mental hell bin of well WTAF then now ?!