Published on 12, July, 2020
I've got an appointment with my GP this afternoon to ask for an assessment referral for ASC. This is on the advice of my counsellor and a mental health nurse I've been speaking with through Occupational Health.
Going from advice on other threads I've looked at the DSM 5 criteria and looked at how I meet them, as well as doing the AQ test and several others, all of which show a strong likelihood of ASC. I've made a list/notes to go through as I find pressured conversations hard.
Is there anything else I should do/say? It's a telephone appointment.
I'm a nearly 40 year old woman who has spent most of my life masking it seems, with the usual consequences of that in depression and anxiety, as well as digestive and sleep issues, all of which have stopped me being able to work and live my life at various times, including at the moment.
Well, being prepared may have done me more harm than good. The GP has said that because I'm articulate and able to talk through this with him, and have got to this stage of my life without serious issues (ignoring the depression and anxiety), that if I were referred it would be a long wait, and it's likely they wouldn't offer me any support after a diagnosis if I got one, so there wouldn't be much practical point in referring me. I asked about the Right to Choose and getting a referral to Psychiatry UK, which he didn't seem to know about. He's going to speak to a senior GP about whether he can do a referral, and if so whether it can be to Psychiatry UK, and give me a call back this afternoon.
Yet another gp with no idea about autism, most autistic people can walk and talk, Chris Packham articulates very well and is autistic. I explained to my gp about how autism affects my life, at the end of the appointment he stated that he was going to refer me for assessment as I hadn’t made eye contact for the entire consultation. I chose not to make eye contact, I could have easily looked at his chin, I knew eye contact would have been used against me. How sad is that. Unfortunately most doctors still see us very stereotypically.
I'll mention the Chris Packham example as I explain that autistic people can be articulate, and that I had to force myself to talk as well as I could on the phone, it's by no means easy!
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.
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 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!
Christine McGuinness is another example, I had someone say to me that if she was autistic then she wouldn’t be able to walk up and down catwalks half dressed, what we choose to display is often smoke and mirrors, it’s an act or as we call it, masking. It’s not unusual for an autistic person to enquire for an assessment armed with about ten A4 pages and not stop to draw breath. Don’t let the GP shut you down. They won’t see how exhausted you will be later for just taking.