I went to the doctor the other day to go down the right to choose route for an autism diagnosis. After having waited two years I got a letter saying that I would have to wait another two years. So I did some research and found somewhere through right to choose that seems to have a much shorter waiting time. I had to go back to my doctor with a letter and a questionnaire that I had printed out for him to sign and send off. The doctor was very dismissive and asked me what I was hoping to get out of it. He then said I should read uta frith as she was the authority on autism. He actually refereed to her as “ the grandfather of autism” which I thought was particularly odd. Knowing something of her and her recent comments in the media I felt this as a bit of an attack. I was able to maintain my composure and say that as far as I was aware her ideas on autism were quite dated and thinking on autism has significantly changed in the last couple of decades. But I was quite rattled by the experience for some time after.
I'm so sorry you had that experience of dealing with a dismissive doctor as a direct result of Frith's comments about late diagnosis. It's really impressive that you managed to keep composed to dispute it, that would have broken me!
Did you manage to get the right to choose? I hope you can eventually manage to get seen.
I'm so sorry you had that experience of dealing with a dismissive doctor as a direct result of Frith's comments about late diagnosis. It's really impressive that you managed to keep composed to dispute it, that would have broken me!
Did you manage to get the right to choose? I hope you can eventually manage to get seen.
