Autistic Adults: how can things be improved?

re: your suggestions

1:  I work as a healthcare professional in a relatively specialist field - the tricky thing about someone getting a diagnosis is that one way or another it sticks. If someone comes to me and in my "expert" assessment I disagree it can be an absolute can of worms to disentangle (not to say I can't be wrong - more that I've got a good idea of when I'm right or not or more importantly I'm not sure and how much I'm not sure...).  Having been through diagnosis by a clinical psychologist and then gone into what is involved in that in avoiding bias and being as objective as possible about what can easily be a subjective decision and also how much training and experience went into that decision I personally would advocate for more clinical psychologists ... sorry this does cost government funding but as the expression has it "if a job's worth doing..."  Statistics need to be accurate in order to be trusted.  This is not to say that self diagnosis does not have a role, AQ50 and treating as etc. and the benefits to the individual in understanding themselves better.  The number of people who are registered with their gps in the way you suggest would support the need for formal diagnostic capability.    I have to admit tho' that it's not easy or everyone with autism to recognise it in themselves.  To paraphrase Spike Milligan "it was a proud day for my family as I was dragged screaming and kicking to my diagnosis.." Knowing that it was done by a skilled professional meant a lot to me personally.and also it seems to employers et al :-)  

2: Tricky thing is tho' some people can be awful at gaming their employers.and make things harder for those who most need help..  So again formal diagnosis by qualified specialists can potentially get around this - or at least help spot patterns and put some help in place where it is best needed...  The funny thing is tho' that the health and safety at work act has in theory had this covered for years.  Using the legislation for mental health issues just doesn't seem to be working as well as it does for such things as exposure to dangerous chemicals, vibration from power tools etc.  Again if it's not being measured and represented it apparently doesn't exist...  Sometimes I wonder if this is why it isn't being measured.

3: I suspect that this would be especially hard to police.  One alternative would be to insist on provision of quiet zones - tho' this would be especially expensive in adaptations required.  Probably cheaper to issue people who want them with noise cancelling headphones that selectively  cancel or reduce the music/tannoy (suspect that could be technologically possible) in such settings.

I think that the crux of this issue is that the NT have no or very little insight into ND.  ND are waking up quicker to the problems they've been facing than the NT world is. There are strong social pressures for ND to adapt and limited social support to facilitate this.  There is perhaps a role for ND people to collectively increase awareness by their actions - however I'm not sure that as a group we are best placed or equipped to do so - I come back to the diagnostic criteria that suggest our capability in relationships and social behaviour by their very nature mean we are disadvantaged and dare I say it lack capability to do so in a "conventional" sense.  ND certainly are outnumbered in a democratic perspective.  I regret to say this may mean needing to push more to be properly recognised as disabled from a societal point of view.  Then collective/widespread action to ensure that equality legislation is followed and contraventions prosecuted might be a way?  My gut feeling is that NT society as a whole will not change unless forced to and also by subtle social manipulation. That is to say by both hard and soft tactics.  Look what has been necessary for respect, inclusion and fairness of other minority groups in society and how that has been achieved...   Attitudes and behaviour to race, ethnicity and sexuality have broadly changed for the better in my lifetime in the country i live in at least.   Look also at how hard that has been and how much is still to be done...  Nevertheless change for the better is possible :-)

re: your suggestions

1:  I work as a healthcare professional in a relatively specialist field - the tricky thing about someone getting a diagnosis is that one way or another it sticks. If someone comes to me and in my "expert" assessment I disagree it can be an absolute can of worms to disentangle (not to say I can't be wrong - more that I've got a good idea of when I'm right or not or more importantly I'm not sure and how much I'm not sure...).  Having been through diagnosis by a clinical psychologist and then gone into what is involved in that in avoiding bias and being as objective as possible about what can easily be a subjective decision and also how much training and experience went into that decision I personally would advocate for more clinical psychologists ... sorry this does cost government funding but as the expression has it "if a job's worth doing..."  Statistics need to be accurate in order to be trusted.  This is not to say that self diagnosis does not have a role, AQ50 and treating as etc. and the benefits to the individual in understanding themselves better.  The number of people who are registered with their gps in the way you suggest would support the need for formal diagnostic capability.    I have to admit tho' that it's not easy or everyone with autism to recognise it in themselves.  To paraphrase Spike Milligan "it was a proud day for my family as I was dragged screaming and kicking to my diagnosis.." Knowing that it was done by a skilled professional meant a lot to me personally.and also it seems to employers et al :-)  

2: Tricky thing is tho' some people can be awful at gaming their employers.and make things harder for those who most need help..  So again formal diagnosis by qualified specialists can potentially get around this - or at least help spot patterns and put some help in place where it is best needed...  The funny thing is tho' that the health and safety at work act has in theory had this covered for years.  Using the legislation for mental health issues just doesn't seem to be working as well as it does for such things as exposure to dangerous chemicals, vibration from power tools etc.  Again if it's not being measured and represented it apparently doesn't exist...  Sometimes I wonder if this is why it isn't being measured.

3: I suspect that this would be especially hard to police.  One alternative would be to insist on provision of quiet zones - tho' this would be especially expensive in adaptations required.  Probably cheaper to issue people who want them with noise cancelling headphones that selectively  cancel or reduce the music/tannoy (suspect that could be technologically possible) in such settings.

I think that the crux of this issue is that the NT have no or very little insight into ND.  ND are waking up quicker to the problems they've been facing than the NT world is. There are strong social pressures for ND to adapt and limited social support to facilitate this.  There is perhaps a role for ND people to collectively increase awareness by their actions - however I'm not sure that as a group we are best placed or equipped to do so - I come back to the diagnostic criteria that suggest our capability in relationships and social behaviour by their very nature mean we are disadvantaged and dare I say it lack capability to do so in a "conventional" sense.  ND certainly are outnumbered in a democratic perspective.  I regret to say this may mean needing to push more to be properly recognised as disabled from a societal point of view.  Then collective/widespread action to ensure that equality legislation is followed and contraventions prosecuted might be a way?  My gut feeling is that NT society as a whole will not change unless forced to and also by subtle social manipulation. That is to say by both hard and soft tactics.  Look what has been necessary for respect, inclusion and fairness of other minority groups in society and how that has been achieved...   Attitudes and behaviour to race, ethnicity and sexuality have broadly changed for the better in my lifetime in the country i live in at least.   Look also at how hard that has been and how much is still to be done...  Nevertheless change for the better is possible :-)

There also comes a point where many of the current ideas about Autism do need to be robustly challenged at every level, not least because many of these are massively outdated - any failure to do so in a timely manner points to potential corruption and this too needs to be highlighted in the interests of the truth, based on a sound moral and ethical footing and based on adherence to basic principles of moral values - the morality of leaving people with autism to struggle to their own devices without proper support in a supposedly civilised society and simply expecting them to fit in is totally unacceptable