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Pros/Cons of Diagnosis

ASC Professional

I am SENCo and teacher who specialises in ASC and have undertaken specialist training in Autism.  My brother has Asperger's Syndrome. I am certain that my 3 and a half year old daughter has Asperger's Syndrime. I work closely enough with paediatricians to know that if she walked into a paediatrician's office, she'd walk out with a diagnosis.  My dilemma however, is whether or not a diagnosis would help or hinder her as an adult. I know that a diagnosis would definitely benefit her during her school years.  I see first hand on a daily basis how beneficial it would be.  However I worry about when she is older, with her job prospects and social prospects. Would a such a label impact on her ability to find a job or a partner? She is incredibly bright and I can see already that she would be able (providing the correct social support was in place) to be employed, but would employers be put off by a diagnosis? Equally, if she found she was able to have a relationship, would prospective partners be put off? I am certain that diagnosis is 100% beneficial at school age. What are your thoughts surrounding the helpfulness of diagnosis for and adult, particularly when they are so high functioning? 

Parents

  • Hope has reminded me of that aspect. I was diagnosed at 55 so had followed a career path without having a diagnosis.

    I always have had great difficulty fitting in at work. The issues are trivial to me, and never seemed to amount to more than that when they came to a head: they were invariably down to colleagues making a bigger issue than justifiable out of the quirks of behaviour that arose because of poor eye contact and difficulty following social dialogue.

    One accusation I had in my lecturing years was "not being Collegiate enough" which meant I didn't respond to things in a social setting in the way expected, especially hierarchical situations, where there was "a pecking order", or with cliques. It being hard enough to engage in any social interchange, I tended to have a "one size fits all" approach which some people who felt they were due more deferment took exception to. Yet if I tried to anticipate and do it right I was seen to be making a mockery of it.

    Another accusation was not coming over as sufficiently academic, which mostly meant I didn't put on the airs and graces of some supercilious self-conceited colleagues.

    I struggled for years with trying to get it right. It meant trying to follow a narrow path to avoid disapproval, and if something went wrong with that it took ages to get settled again.

    This also affected job interviews and internal appraisals. I found it harder to approach things in the way NTs expect. And if you have trouble with eye contact as I do, it really shows in job interviews.

    The main consequence was that, because I wasn't proficient at being NT, it meant I missed out on gradings and promotions. Even though I was good at what I did, merit is mostly how you fit in in most workplaces.

    So that ought to be considered an issue for diagnosis. Even without a diagnosis I went through my working life with "there's obviously something wrong with him" hanging over me. Not fun.

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  • Hope has reminded me of that aspect. I was diagnosed at 55 so had followed a career path without having a diagnosis.

    I always have had great difficulty fitting in at work. The issues are trivial to me, and never seemed to amount to more than that when they came to a head: they were invariably down to colleagues making a bigger issue than justifiable out of the quirks of behaviour that arose because of poor eye contact and difficulty following social dialogue.

    One accusation I had in my lecturing years was "not being Collegiate enough" which meant I didn't respond to things in a social setting in the way expected, especially hierarchical situations, where there was "a pecking order", or with cliques. It being hard enough to engage in any social interchange, I tended to have a "one size fits all" approach which some people who felt they were due more deferment took exception to. Yet if I tried to anticipate and do it right I was seen to be making a mockery of it.

    Another accusation was not coming over as sufficiently academic, which mostly meant I didn't put on the airs and graces of some supercilious self-conceited colleagues.

    I struggled for years with trying to get it right. It meant trying to follow a narrow path to avoid disapproval, and if something went wrong with that it took ages to get settled again.

    This also affected job interviews and internal appraisals. I found it harder to approach things in the way NTs expect. And if you have trouble with eye contact as I do, it really shows in job interviews.

    The main consequence was that, because I wasn't proficient at being NT, it meant I missed out on gradings and promotions. Even though I was good at what I did, merit is mostly how you fit in in most workplaces.

    So that ought to be considered an issue for diagnosis. Even without a diagnosis I went through my working life with "there's obviously something wrong with him" hanging over me. Not fun.

Children
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