Published on 12, July, 2020
It’s coming up to the 1st anniversary of my diagnosis, so I thought it needed a thread.
Here are some pertinent facts.
Wait time from GP referral to diagnosis: 10 months (total)
Age at diagnosis: 60 years
Date of diagnosis: 2022
Method: private company via NHS
Health Authority/Company: Surrey and Borders/Harley Psychiatrists
Response upon diagnosis: positive – it gave me a context for why I’ve ‘failed’ at various stages during my life and a ‘get out of jail free card’ for choices I now make.
Feelings a year on: similar. I have a context for everything.
However, there are times when I do think about, if I was diagnosed earlier, or if I wasn’t autistic, how different my life might have been.
I wonder if others would like to share their diagnostic experiences, and if not diagnosed, whether + for how long on a waiting list (+ with which authority) or if you are self-identified.
We may be able to gather some interesting or useful data along the way
Wait time from initial referral to diagnosis: 3 months
Wait time from initial suspicions/self-identification: six and a half years! (I was refused a referral and it put me off for a long time)
Age at diagnosis: 35
Date of diagnosis: March 2023
Method: private assessment after self-referral
Company: Autism Oxford
Response on diagnosis: relief, mostly! I cried after I got off the phone. I felt vindicated- I'd been treated so horribly when I first started to suspect I was autistic, and I've experienced so much medical gaslighting for my physical health, that I really needed that external acknowledgement to prove me right. And it did.
It's still too soon to say what my feelings will be long-term. I wish I'd been diagnosed sooner, but maybe not as a young child- I think a diagnosis as an older child or teenager would have given me time to prove I could do things while still giving me time to obtain the support I needed at university (and didn't get in reality). Ultimately though I'm just really glad that I know, because it's given me an explanation for so much of my life and a nice bit of shorthand to use when I discuss that with others.
Thanks.
Interesting how the diagnosis has supplied an 'acknowledgement' with respect to your physical health (if I am reading you correctly).
Yes, most of my chronic illness collection has links with autism! Getting an acknowledgement that the way I perceive what's happening in my body is both real AND different to how neurotypical people perceive the same thing has also been helpful, just in a more general "standing up for myself as a disabled person" way.