Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi, I am new to this. I hope this is okay to post. I am 30 years old. I was misdiagnosed for a decade in the mental health system and was finally correctly diagnosed with autism at the age of 27, exactly 10 years after entering the mental health system. I have unfortunately spent over 7 of those years as an inpatient. It has been an incredibly traumatic time for me. I am finally out of hospital after the biggest battle of my life. As soon as I was diagnosed my mental health has been the best it has ever been as finally everything makes sense. I am so grateful I finally know why I am the way I am. However due to so many years stuck in the system and stuck in hospital, it has meant that I have never been in employment before. I really wish to be able to work but I am aware that it is going to be very challenging to get a job with my lack of experience. I have done several level 2 courses this year and have done some volunteering also. I am also plan on doing more volunteering soon. I feel like honesty is the best policy for myself - I find it difficult to say anything but the truth if I were ever questioned why I do not have much on my CV for the past 10 years. I feel like when applying for jobs in the future I just want to be honest about my situation and what happened and hope that someone gives me a chance. But I am also aware that some employers may not be keen.
I was wondering if anyone else has gone through something similar and how they deal with it? How do you tell someone you spent a decade being misdiagnosed, stuck in hospital, and now desperate to get on with my life and hope they do not judge you for being failed by the system. I feel incredibly alone in what I have gone through even though I know sadly my story is not unheard of. Thank you for reading this
I am sorry that you had the wrong treatment for so long. This needs to stop happening. I am trying to look for voluntary work and am struggling to offer myself for free and references needed. It's a good job I have one when I was a super moderator on a computer forum and through a vicar. I just wanted to say you might want to be doing delivery as I see young people men and women doing it like with deliveroo these days etc. The last unit I was at they encouraged being true in CV's, but you well you need to sell yourself as well and being honest. Did you gain any experience in hospital or in the community previously.
Hi, thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate all your ideas and support. Those are very good ideas. Unfortunately I would not be able to do any delivery work as I cannot drive - I got covid 2 years ago the exact month I was due to leave hospital and I especially got brain inflammation as a result of covid and became acutely unwell for the following year. My very poor health meant my discharge got delayed by 1 year and then it got delayed by a further year because of how slow my community team were in sourcing me any suitable accommodation. But as a result of having had covid, I now have hundreds of neurological symptoms including seizures. Therefore I am not able to drive/do delivery. I have completed several level 2 courses this year and am about to do another. I did some volunteering in a charity shop before I got covid and had to stop so I have them as a reference. I have someone else who can give a personal reference. I was a student nurse for a year, 10 years ago before I got into the system. And did the odd volunteering before I went into hospital. I just applied for a job in a cafe to serve the food. They openly encouraged applicants with disability and neurodiversity etc saying they do not discriminate and like to give opportunity to those who usually would not be given. I found that really refreshing to see so I applied for the job but I haven’t yet been invited to interview, I’m not sure disclosing my “I was misdiagnosed for a decade with a mental health condition I never had so spent 7 years in hospital and then I got covid and now have an inflamed brain but I don’t want it to stop me from working” helped… lol you can’t make up my life! Thank you for the ideas though I really appreciate it. I am thinking of perhaps in the future working for myself as I think it will be so hard with my health and my backstory of misdiagnosis to find an employer who is understanding. I’ll see how things go, I have recently started volunteering at the community garden which I enjoy and just signed up to some other volunteering so I’ll see how it goes. Thanks so much for your ideas though. Were you also misdiagnosed in mental health hospitals?