Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all,
I was diagnosed with autism yesterday. Does anyone have any suggestions on next steps or any helpful experience?
The person who diagnosed me is trying to find lost diagnosis support privately. I don't know if this is something the nhs can help with or not.
Can anyone recommend any good books? Social groups or facebook groups?
Any helpful comments much appreciated as feeling quite emotional.
Hi NAS79108!
I can absolutely understand your feeling emotional after your diagnosis. For me those emotions were quite positive as my own 'suspicions' (for want of a better word) were validated and I was able to forge a new understanding of myself and resolve a lot of long standing confusion about myself. I do appreciate that not everyone shares my experience though. As for good books, the first book that I always recommend to people is Neurotribes by Steve Silberman. It is written by a non-autistic person but he is a great ally to our community.
Even though it doesn't seem serious, I've found that pages on Facebook such as The Autism Comedy Club are really validating when I see experiences which match my own, in addition to the fact that it's light-hearted and entertaining!
As for professional post-diagnostic support, we know that it's is a really thorny issue at the moment and I'll be honest, what post-diagnostic support services exist tend not to be of high quality or adapted to autistic people. That's why so many of us go without them. That being said, I've found that informal social groups for autistic people can be a great way to meet people with similar experiences.
I'm more than happy to chat with you if you have any other questions or if you think I can help in some further way.
- Sp. Oc.