Confused

Hi

I was told by my doctor last year that I 'was not eligible' for an NHS diagnosis (I'm 62).  This seems a common thing, reading a lot of the posts here.

In my case, I was suffering severe anxiety and depression at the time, and was referred to congetive behavioural therapy.  I decided to seek a private diagnosis with money I could ill afford, but this has turned out to be money well spent and the diagnosis was completed within six weeks of when I finally took the plunge and went for it, and would probably have been a lot sooner had I not had problems with the availability of dates on my part).

In my case, I have always had certain problems with others thinking I was 'strange' and with having social awareness.  My autism did not cause me particular problems but I have had bouts of depression and anxiety throughout my life.  However, there was something always in the background waiting to come out.  I hated change and would mull over problems in my mind fo days at times having interrupted sleep. 

I think it is very short sighted only thinking that autism is a problem if it causes other mental health problems.  For me, t a change in work practices really set things off.  My autism had caused a few problems at work before then, but these were mostly of a trivial or minor nature.  But change at work was a timebomb, waiting to explode, and once primed it did explode quite spectacularly.  I was off work for five months and I'm sure if I hadn't decided during my absence to get a diagnosis, I would have lost my job. The managers still do not understand, but having a diagnosis has opened the door to adjustments at work (the occupational health service at work refused to recognise I might be autistic until I had a diagnosis) and I have now, through access to work, been given funding for a support worker at work over the next three years.

There are other ways than anxiety and dpression and other mental illnesses that autism can have an effect on.  The ability to make lasting friendships, understanding of the world, social faux pas, having to explain yourself to others why you get sensory overload (especially in sounds, smells and vision), not being able to handle job interviews and bluntness of converstation and small talk.  You may be able to adopt your own coping strategies fo these, but that in itself comes at a cost to your mental health.

With autism awareness week coming up, we should perhaps use this opportunity to explain to our lawmakers the troubles we are having.  There was meant to be an 'autism strategy' set up a few years back, but that seems to have been forgotten about.  So perhaps we should lobby ou MPs, 'tweet' them (most of them seem to be on twitter) and write to newspapers explaining the problems we face. 

Because, as the slogan says 'until everyone understands' we will continue to get this sort of treatment.

Hi

I was told by my doctor last year that I 'was not eligible' for an NHS diagnosis (I'm 62).  This seems a common thing, reading a lot of the posts here.

In my case, I was suffering severe anxiety and depression at the time, and was referred to congetive behavioural therapy.  I decided to seek a private diagnosis with money I could ill afford, but this has turned out to be money well spent and the diagnosis was completed within six weeks of when I finally took the plunge and went for it, and would probably have been a lot sooner had I not had problems with the availability of dates on my part).

In my case, I have always had certain problems with others thinking I was 'strange' and with having social awareness.  My autism did not cause me particular problems but I have had bouts of depression and anxiety throughout my life.  However, there was something always in the background waiting to come out.  I hated change and would mull over problems in my mind fo days at times having interrupted sleep. 

I think it is very short sighted only thinking that autism is a problem if it causes other mental health problems.  For me, t a change in work practices really set things off.  My autism had caused a few problems at work before then, but these were mostly of a trivial or minor nature.  But change at work was a timebomb, waiting to explode, and once primed it did explode quite spectacularly.  I was off work for five months and I'm sure if I hadn't decided during my absence to get a diagnosis, I would have lost my job. The managers still do not understand, but having a diagnosis has opened the door to adjustments at work (the occupational health service at work refused to recognise I might be autistic until I had a diagnosis) and I have now, through access to work, been given funding for a support worker at work over the next three years.

There are other ways than anxiety and dpression and other mental illnesses that autism can have an effect on.  The ability to make lasting friendships, understanding of the world, social faux pas, having to explain yourself to others why you get sensory overload (especially in sounds, smells and vision), not being able to handle job interviews and bluntness of converstation and small talk.  You may be able to adopt your own coping strategies fo these, but that in itself comes at a cost to your mental health.

With autism awareness week coming up, we should perhaps use this opportunity to explain to our lawmakers the troubles we are having.  There was meant to be an 'autism strategy' set up a few years back, but that seems to have been forgotten about.  So perhaps we should lobby ou MPs, 'tweet' them (most of them seem to be on twitter) and write to newspapers explaining the problems we face. 

Because, as the slogan says 'until everyone understands' we will continue to get this sort of treatment.