Communication struggles - its so hard!

I think I misunderstood your post when I first replied. I took it to mean the RTC process is confusing, but you're worried about what they'll ask you and how to put yourself across, if I'm correct.

I did find the whole RTC process infuriatingly confusing. Being presented with 20+ options for assessment is overwhelming for someone like me, that struggles to choose from 3 sandwiches! It was the availability of help that annoyed me. Nobody would answer me when I asked for help.

I turned to AI. I'd already used AI to map my traits. I just fed in memories and AI gave me a list of how they fit in to the DSM criteria. That got sent to Clinical Partners.

The problem is I've used AI too much since and I've come to realise I got a bit addicted to it. It answers me. It reassures me. It gives me a hit of dopamine every time it does either of those. Because it's often so hard to find someone to talk to, and because AI gave me that "person". So, if you do use AI use it sparingly.

I've been told the questions in the tests are ambiguous. I mean, "I often notice sounds when others do not". I don't know about you but I thought how could I know if others don't hear that sound.

I'm no expert, but I think the proof of the pudding is in what you're asked at the assessment. These people are highly trained experts and they'll get so much from how you act at your assessment, what you say.

I wish you the best of luck. 

nidriks said:

I've been told the questions in the tests are ambiguous. I mean, "I often notice sounds when others do not".

That one threw me, too. I think it might be better phrased along the lines of "do sounds bother you more than they seem to bother others?" I had my diagnosis yesterday and the (private, older-women-friendly psychologist explained after we went through the senory stuff that neurotypicals zone such stuff out after a short while and don't notice it. I had no idea people did this! 

I don't know how true this is, but I was told that it can be interpreted as what you see too. I mean, for example, at work I will spot things much more easily than others. I work in retail and will quickly spot when the wrong item is on a presorted cage. A colleague will say "how did you spot that so fast?". Or things like wildlife when I'm out and about. I'll spot well hidden lizards on a wall or birds moving in the undergrowth.

I'm thinking the gist of the question is that us neurodivergent types are spotting what's all around us. We're attentive to the world when your average neurotypical is much more attuned to being social.

It's why I love the theory that autism evolved as a defence for prehistoric tribes. The autistic tribe member was the lookout; the person that spotted the hidden dangers or the smells of their landscape.

Yeah, I've done a deep dive since I started considering autism! I've become fascinated in the subject and why autism exists.

nidriks said:

It's why I love the theory that autism evolved as a defence for prehistoric tribes.

this is a controversial theory. I have difficulty with reverse-engineering biological theories working with no or partial evidence. For me, the trouble with this one is that it concentrates on accounting for sensory differences, which form a minor part of autism. As the major part relates to difficulties in social communication, it would have account for the social effects and any benefits of those, which create social isolation within the group.

nidriks said:

It's why I love the theory that autism evolved as a defence for prehistoric tribes.

this is a controversial theory. I have difficulty with reverse-engineering biological theories working with no or partial evidence. For me, the trouble with this one is that it concentrates on accounting for sensory differences, which form a minor part of autism. As the major part relates to difficulties in social communication, it would have account for the social effects and any benefits of those, which create social isolation within the group.