Adult diagnosis of Asperger's?

Hello Smile

Just registered here so this is my first post. Basically I've struggled with a lot of things most of my life, I'm in my late 30s now, but in my early 30s a friend suggested that I may have Asperger's. I looked into it and it really explained a lot of things, actually it was hugely helpful to self diagnose, since it's helped me deal with why I have trouble with certain things and why I struggle doing things that most people take for granted.

The reason I've come on here is to ask about proper diagnosis, and whether it's worth it? I work as a freelance designer / illustrator so I work from home, which suits me well because I find it really hard to work in an office. However, I'd like to try to get a full time job in my field, so I'm wondering if getting a proper diagnosis will be beneficial?

I have absolutely no idea what help is available for people with Asperger's, nor if there's even any help that can be given. I don't really know my GP since I rarely get ill, and the thought of going to them to talk about this sort of thing makes me really anxious, so I've been avoiding it for ages. But having said that, if there's a real advantage to getting a proper diagnosis then I could probably push myself to do so.

Another problem from reading some of the threads on this forum, is that it seems a lot of people don't get taken very seriously, or can appear to be "fine" when seeing a GP or a specialist. I've trained myself over the years to create habits to sort of hide my Asperger's (or suspected Asperger's!) so I worry it may be hard to diagnose.

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Parents
  • Hi Rsocks, apologies for digressing, but....

    I agree with Kitty. That comment was insensitive and I thought tact was what NT people were good at, and AS people not so good.I  think it is a common misconception by NT people that we are at fault in some way when things go wrong. We are a minority group, who think differently, who are given help in understanding the majority. That does not excuse their  failure to try and understand  people who are different, and show kindness and tollerance.

    They need educating too, and it seems to be left to AS people to educate those around by talking about how we see the world and cope.

    Is anything done in schools to  educate NT people about autism? Or any other health issues for that matter.

Reply
  • Hi Rsocks, apologies for digressing, but....

    I agree with Kitty. That comment was insensitive and I thought tact was what NT people were good at, and AS people not so good.I  think it is a common misconception by NT people that we are at fault in some way when things go wrong. We are a minority group, who think differently, who are given help in understanding the majority. That does not excuse their  failure to try and understand  people who are different, and show kindness and tollerance.

    They need educating too, and it seems to be left to AS people to educate those around by talking about how we see the world and cope.

    Is anything done in schools to  educate NT people about autism? Or any other health issues for that matter.

Children
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