First time post here, so Hi
For quite some time I've had my suspicions that I'm higher up the Scale than the average person, to the point that I nearly booked a GP appointment last week do ask for a referral.
Then on Saturday I found a link to the Channel 4 'How Autistic Are You?' Questionnaire - which gives a non-diagnostic idea of where you are on the spectrum. It was designed by Prof Baron-Cohen & Dr David Greenberg, so I feel at least it will be quite a good pointer, if not 100% accurate.
A small group of us took the test. One of the group already has a diagnosis of High-Functioning Autism and scored 9 out of 10. The other 3 scored 1, 3 & 6, the latter (my partner) exhibiting some autistic traits. I scored 10. The questionnaire recommended considering a specialist diagnostic assesment if scoring over 6, so I have booked a GP appointment. My partner did question what benefit getting a formal diagnosis would be, to which I replied that at least it would help explain some of the ways I react and see life and why I've often been regarded as a bit of an odd-ball.
I read on some of the information pages on this site that for adult diagnosis, one has to take an informant - someone who knew you as a child. Aged 55, my parents are both dead, and I have no other relatives of their peer group, nor siblings. I've started writing down all I can remember from childhood - most of which seem to be instances of perceived injustice or anger at logic not being followed. Is that likely to be enough or will I not get a diagnosis?
I must say that our children both scored very low in the tests, thus proving that it's not necessarily a genetic trait. Phew.
