Waiting for diagnosis appointment - Initial assessment indicates autism and very high masking. Life flashing before eyes. Any advice?

Tell your assessors that you mask a lot. Do not expect them to divine it from just observing. The paper, 'Self-reported camouflaging behaviours used by autistic adults during everyday social interactions', found here:  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8814950/, might help you categorise and describe your masking behaviours.

You are not alone! I was/am mega high-masking too.

thank you

Hi and welcome to the community!

The NAS some excellent resources covering the whole process - I think you might find them very helpful :)

The first bunch that I'll link to directly includes: 

• What can I do while waiting for an autism assessment?
• Criteria and tools used in an autism assessment
• What happens during an autism assessment
• Professionals involved in an autism assessment

NAS - Assessment and diagnosis

There are also separate sets of articles covering before diagnosis and after diagnosis, all available via the diagnosis hub:

NAS - Diagnosis hub

Waiting times for assessments vary by NHS trust, but are typically years rather than months. If you're in England and would prefer a shorter waiting time, then you might prefer to ask your GP to re-refer you to an NHS-approved private provider via Right to Choose (RTC):

NAS - What is Right to Choose

This website (among others) offers a list of RTC providers for autism assessments:

ADHD and ASD assessment – Right To Choose