Been told no diagnosis without an informant

That is very disappointing, especially since other clinics say that while having a person who knew you well in childhood is the preferred option, not having an informant should not be a barrier to a diagnosis. It is increasingly recognised that older adults may not have an informant.

Seahorses said:

I also don't have a friendship where I've lived with someone or overlapped with them enough that they'd be capable of doing this. I actually don't know how to proceed, other than not to proceed. Any advice?

Some suggestions:

Arm yourself with literature illustrating why you don’t need an informant. (There are books and online references specific to adults on this topic. I don’t have the details to hand, but I can search for them if you require? Just respond on this thread and I’m happy to do this)

Make an appointment with your GP and show them the referenced sources on adult assessments without an informant. Ask for a new referral. 

Choose somewhere that can assess you.  (I emailed several clinics enquiring if they did adult assessments without an informant)

If the above options are not an option, you could email the clinic that refused to assess you, asking them to reconsider. Insert the referenced sources about  not needing adult informants in the body of your email. 

Don’t give up hope, as things are changing all the time.

This is an edited copy of part of the email I sent to one clinic that would not assess me without an informant. They came back to me saying they had a meeting and could now do the assessment. The NHS in my area does adult assessments without informants. A few private clinics near me offered assessments for adults without informants. 

”I do hope we can proceed with an assessment as I would be extremely disappointed if it could not go ahead. 

As I have already mentioned in my email of 00/00/00, my GP has referred me for an Adult Autism Assessment. Unfortunately the Anytown NHS Health Trust waiting time is over four years and I feel that at 00 years of age, it is too long to wait, especially since I have struggled through life feeling different as long as I can remember. 

I made contact with Autism NI and the National Autistic Society to see how to go about having a Private Adult Assessment and to see that if diagnosed as autistic, it would be accepted by my GP and other services, the same way as an NHS Adult Assessment. I was told that if a multi disciplinary team was involved in the private assessment and it followed NICE guidelines, it should be accepted by the NHS. They also said that in an ideal world a family member or somebody who had known me well should be involved, but if the person was older and might not have someone, an assessment can still go ahead.

I also made contact also with one of the team at the Anytown NHS Health Trust Referrals (where my GP had referred me originally), to confirm that if diagnosed, they would accept a private assessment. They said that age would be no barrier to an assessment and that of course not everyone has family or friends who are still alive or who they are still in contact with. Any assessment would still be completed within NICE guidelines.

I understand that being a private clinic, you may have your own policy or way of doing things, but I would feel sad if an assessment could not be offered”. 

I self referred. I haven’t seen a GP in person since about 2019! 

Ah right. If you don’t want to go down the NHS route, you have two options: 

Contact the assessor who advised you you not to proceed. Quote the evidence of why you don’t need an informant (eg quote NICE guidelines and NAS website assessment information) and ask them to reconsider.

Or as Stuart333 and Expecto_Patronum have suggested -

pick a different autism assessor who will assess without an informant. 

Ah right. If you don’t want to go down the NHS route, you have two options: 

Contact the assessor who advised you you not to proceed. Quote the evidence of why you don’t need an informant (eg quote NICE guidelines and NAS website assessment information) and ask them to reconsider.

Or as Stuart333 and Expecto_Patronum have suggested -

pick a different autism assessor who will assess without an informant.