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Adult diagnosis of Asperger's?

ease

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

  • Thanks for the replies everone, sorry it's taken so long to check back!

    It sounds like getting an official diagnosis is a pretty long and drawn out process, and not really very advantageous unless you work at a company where it would be helpful to let your employers know why you can be a little different sometimes.

    I deal with things pretty well right now, but mainly because I work freelance and from home, so I don't really get exposed to a lot of situations that might be awkward. Although it does make things pretty hard sometimes when clients want to meet, or even just call. Also I miss out on a lot of opportunities like working on-site for a client or things like being asked to organise workshops or be a guest lecturer somewhere, because I really can't deal with that sort of situation very well so always turn them down.

    I don't really mention to many people about my AS, mainly because it feels like an 'excuse' in a way, and feels to me like a cop out for being 'weird' sometimes or hard to deal with. A few people know, but then I've also had a few people call me out on using it as an excuse for things, who probably don't understand how hard it can be to deal with certain situations, and how people misunderstand your behaviour sometimes and think you're being rude or weird or annoying on purpose.

    Anyway it was good to read the comments so thanks for the replies! :) 

Reply

  • Thanks for the replies everone, sorry it's taken so long to check back!

    It sounds like getting an official diagnosis is a pretty long and drawn out process, and not really very advantageous unless you work at a company where it would be helpful to let your employers know why you can be a little different sometimes.

    I deal with things pretty well right now, but mainly because I work freelance and from home, so I don't really get exposed to a lot of situations that might be awkward. Although it does make things pretty hard sometimes when clients want to meet, or even just call. Also I miss out on a lot of opportunities like working on-site for a client or things like being asked to organise workshops or be a guest lecturer somewhere, because I really can't deal with that sort of situation very well so always turn them down.

    I don't really mention to many people about my AS, mainly because it feels like an 'excuse' in a way, and feels to me like a cop out for being 'weird' sometimes or hard to deal with. A few people know, but then I've also had a few people call me out on using it as an excuse for things, who probably don't understand how hard it can be to deal with certain situations, and how people misunderstand your behaviour sometimes and think you're being rude or weird or annoying on purpose.

    Anyway it was good to read the comments so thanks for the replies! :) 

Children
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