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Recommendations for adult female diagnosis in Nottingham

Olivia

Hi everyone.

I am 40 and recently came to the realisation that I am autistic after wondering for many years but never quite facing up to it.

I have an appointment on Friday to speak to my GP and am very anxious as I keep hearing that they dismiss your concerns if you have a job and a partner. If I do manage to convince them to refer me, I am looking for recommendations of providers. I have reached out to The Lorna Wing Centre but they do not cover my area (Nottingham) and the others that I have found which accept NHS referrals under the right to choose all use ADOS 2. From what I have read this is not very reliable for diagnosing adults and the process sounds horrendous. 

Does anyone know of any providers who are experienced in diagnosing adult women, do not use ADOS 2 and provide their services in Nottingham? 

Thank you all.

  • Hello Olivia,

    You can self test to get a good idea it you are autistic or not - there are plenly showing up on a Google serarch (use one from a .ORG site though just to avoid potential spam) and the results are typically reasonably accurate if you are truthful on the questions.

    You may also want to read up on this if you have time, one book that I've read that is useful as mutiple contributors talk about their experiences of it.

    An Aspie's guide to being tested for Asperger's_HFA - Attwood, Tony, Evans, Craig R., Lesko, Anita (2015)

    eISBN 9781784501358

    Note that Aspergers is now merged into the autism spectrum as a diagnosis so it most commonly just referred to as autism.

    Also build up a list of events that highlight your autistic traits, including feelings of exclusion - the more common ones are listed here if you want to a place to start:

    https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.html

    A lot of providers will do online meetings which means you don't need a specific local service.

    I would recommend you ask if they can do an RAADS test as this is the benchmark test used by psychiatrists as I understand it - it avoids the complicating factor of traits being hidden by masking techniques which is why I suggested you build your own list of experiences to include in the discussion.

    We tend to mask in stressful situations so a face to face observation is counterproductive in adults in my opinion.

    Make a list of questions to ask when you are there as well - these are often forgotten in the heat of the moment so having them written helps.