Published on 12, July, 2020
I've been trying to get a post diagnosis assessment, I only found out about them from being on here, I was never offered one when first diagnosed, I was just left to get on with it. I tried the group in North Wales that was supposed to help and they were useless, couldn't get their heads around my very low tech skills, didn't listen, gas lit me on one occaision and ended up being a human google pointing me towards "help" that wasn't even available in Wales. It ended up with two women sat at my kitchen table with a lap top showing two smart phones I could buy from my local tescos and this was after weeks of phone calls and emails around various agencies, I felt like a lost parcel!
On saturday I bumped into some collectors from the local mencap group and asked them if mencap could help me, they assured me that they would, so I emailed them and they can't and tried to send me here and to the above group that are a total waste of time and public money.
Now I feel, well thats that, no help, no interest, all the bodies that are supposed to help with ASC are closed to me apart from these boards. I am able to advocate for myself, so I could write to my Assembly member or MP or both, but can I be bothered? What do I expect them to do? The answer is nothing, the last time I wrote to my assembly member I had no reply at all and my MP did say they'd recieved my email, but the only action that was taken was to pass all my details onto to head office so as they could advertise at me.
Is there anywhere for an intelligent 62 year old woman to get any help?
Hello again CatWoman.
Forgetting about the phone for now.
I am wondering if we can break down you IT needs into smaller chunks with a view to people here being able to help out.
I already understand that you are frustrated about not being able to get help locally.
What is it that you want out of IT? What do you want to be able to do? Maybe we can work on something specific - rather than IT as a big unwieldy lump. Are you able to list the things that you would like to be able to do?
(Also, how do you use this forum? I'm guessing not a phone. Is it a PC, or Mac or something else?)
Fiona, thanks for your suggestions, I've not thought of saga or only for cruises and car insurance. Age UK as it is now, isn't actually for the whole of the UK, it would be better to call it Age England as all the devoled nations have their own versions of it and North Wales has one all of it's own. They were one of the organisations I contacted last time, that ended up with the two women sat in my kitchen showing me two phones I could buy at my local tesco. They wern't very helpful, I don't think I was quite old enough for them, even though they say they are for people over 60, I think they really want you to be over 70 or 80 and in nned of someone to sort out practicle things like getting enough benefits and fitting accesable bathrooms.
I tried the University of the Third Age, most offer courses and stuff, but not ours, they're all retiured and bored of learning stuff and just do coffee mornings, dog walks and talks that seem to be mostly men showing off thier huge metal errections to each other from their work lives. I have no interest in in big engineering, or listening to older men wrench their arms out of thier sockets trying to reach round and pat themselves on the back. I did try reaching out to them and never even got a reply.
Mark, I access the internet via a desk top pc. I'd like to sort of move away from tech for a bit, I know it's an easy thing to focus on because I'm so crap at it. But what else is there in a post diagnosis assessment thingy? People keep asking me what I want and I don't know, because I don't know whats out there, I feel like I'm being tken into a 5* restaurant, and told I can have any food in the world I'd like, but no one gives me a menu, so I end up ordering a bowl of cornflakes because its all I know exists.
I'd like some help dealing with this big grey wall that appears before me whenever I try and think of something like tech, or maths, it's like someones plonked the Berlin Wall in front of me, only theres no check points, tunnels or anyway of getting past it that I can find and believe me I've tried. I'd like some occaisional practicle help with things like having to travel further east than Bangor, everything, like shops etc are now in Llanduddno and I can't get there, the last time I went a friend took me, but she's moving back to Scotland next month. I'd like help on the occaisions that I have to fill in forms as I go to pieces when confronted with a form to fill in. Stuff like that, but because I can't "do the program" or whatever it is thst the local autism support group have decided everyone has to do they seem unwilling or unable to help. Everything with them is in a group too, I can't hear properly with groups of people around, and I can't concentrate either, I dont' feel safe and get really anxious.