Adult referral

I had a three+ hour interview today over Skype and it confirmed Aspergers, will need to see pysch in person to officially confirm diagnosis.

Now if confirmed what to tell the school ie my employer and is there anything that they can do to help?

I have sent a letter to my GP & the practice manager but have not heard back yet.

But as time is possibly of the essence given that the meeting with the school is 2 weeks today I have started the process towards a private diagnostic. First interview is today.

capers123 said:

If you're under threat of disciplinary action, could your union help?  Maybe they could sort out an assessment to help defend you?

I am being handled at regional union level, though past experience does not leave me that impressed with unions.

I will ask them re assessment.

[quote user="NAS17752"]

Yes, true, you probably can't easily go back on your own. Or I guess you can ask them for an appointment, but they may have to get approval from your employer.

I meant this more in case you get send there in future, which may happen if there are ongoing problems. Unfortunately OH doctors often seem to focus exclusively on the questions that have been ticked on the form. [quote]

Yep so if you know as the employer the questions that may lead to awkward answers then do not ask them. Though most OH reports I have seen have given a general report followed by answering the questions asked. Although the idea that they are particularly useful is a bit of a joke. At least it was when I have one with the local authority nurse.

If you're under threat of disciplinary action, could your union help?  Maybe they could sort out an assessment to help defend you?

Yes, true, you probably can't easily go back on your own. Or I guess you can ask them for an appointment, but they may have to get approval from your employer.

I meant this more in case you get send there in future, which may happen if there are ongoing problems. Unfortunately OH doctors often seem to focus exclusively on the questions that have been ticked on the form. Think that's pretty bad because it requires that the employer has all the knowledge to ask the right questions and is aware of everything that may lead to the problems they see and which are the reason for sending someone to an OH doctor.

oktanol said:

Yes, sort of, no idea how likely this is though. 

Say what? Confused.

 It may be worth suggesting this to the OH doctor at least because they may 1. not recognise it without being told and 2. not know about the situation with the assessment (which will take quite some time to happen even when they have agreed to fund it).

My recent OH referral was only to see if I was fit enough to attend the meeting where the black cap was available to the school reps. 

Not to see if I was well enough to teach.

I do not think that I can now go back to OH without a further referral from the school as they refer and pay for the OH appointments.

Yes, sort of, no idea how likely this is though. I was in a similar position, a counsellor suggested it, the GP said it wasn't available but the OH doctor completely dismissed the counsellor's suggestion. Maybe having him on my side and suggesting an assessment to be done in his report would have made it much harder for the employer to sack me for reasons that sounded altogether as if they had copied them from a list of things people with AS struggle with or do that annoy others. It may be worth suggesting this to the OH doctor at least because they may 1. not recognise it without being told and 2. not know about the situation with the assessment (which will take quite some time to happen even when they have agreed to fund it).

Thanks for that.

I get more than my fair share of parental/student complaints and I think that not being able to name has made them more likely to happen as well as being TG.

I will contact my GP again tomorrow to make her and the practice aware that it is a statutory duty to refer.

Do you mean ask my employer via OH to send me for an assessment? Now there is an idea.

Sorry again, I seem to misunderstand everyone today (well, maybe that's my normal state). I thought that was what you meant by saying "my school is now moving to have me sacked". Let's hope that something/someone prevents that from happening. A teacher who can't remember the kids' names is not the worst you can get (even if that is presumably not the only issue).

And no, the OH doctor is probably not going to be able to do an ASD assessment but if it's a good one they will be aware of this and at least be on your side, perhaps they could even recommend to send you for a private assessment, not sure if that would be a reasonable thing to ask for? Don't think the fact that an employer pays for this service should stop them from genuinely supporting you.

oktanol said:

Ah, I see, sorry, yes, I misunderstood this,  so I assumed that the process must have been started already...

Now I never said the process had not started :-(

Guess with all that stuff going on you may have been sent to some occupational health doctor? If so, were they of any use? That could help massively or do the exact opposite if it's someone like the arrogant and ignorant guy I was sent to.

Yes been to OH a few times and some have been great and some have been not so, but all have not really been of any use as a diagnostic, that just isnt their job. Besides they are paid by the employer so they are not exactly objective..

Thanks for the suggestion I will contact them on Monday.

RR

Ah, I see, sorry, yes, I misunderstood this, maybe because everyone told me how negative a thought it is to believe that my employer was going to sack me until it happened (a counsellor read a letter a few days before it happened and told me "They are trying to help you!"), so I assumed that the process must have been started already... Wishing you the best of luck then that you manage to stay and be accepted.

Guess with all that stuff going on you may have been sent to some occupational health doctor? If so, were they of any use? That could help massively or do the exact opposite if it's someone like the arrogant and ignorant guy I was sent to.

If you google for "NAS local branches" then you'll get to a page where you can choose the country and then the region and there you get a list of all local branches, so you just need to find the one that fits you. Mine is in the Northwest, not sure I'm allowed to say which one. There may be big differences between them, but if yours doesn't mentioned anything about problems with GPs it is probably the best to try and give them a ring. The one here offers no other support for adults but at least informing GPs seems to be something they will do.

Thanks for the reply Oblomov.

I am being treated for anxiety and depression at the moment and it was whilst talking to them that it was suggested I get tested.

J

Thanks for the reply Oktanol.

I think you may misunderstand a little, I have not lost my job. Yet. I am at present fighting for it. It is complicated by have THREE other conditions covered under the EA 2010... But at two of those are common in people with AS.

Can I ask where abouts in the UK is it that you live? Also where can I find info on my local NAS?

I have recent experience of these CCG cutbacks, though not directly due to my autism.  I was refused funding for earwax microsuction treatment which I'd always received before on the NHS.  Instead, I was offered only old-fashioned syringing, which is both potentially dangerous and painful/unpleasant for me.  I appealed against their decision, citing among other factors my autism (sensory overload from syringing) but my appeal was rejected.

The administrators spent months "looking into my case," as they put it.  Why, I said, can't someone spend five minutes looking into my ears!  In the end, only letters from my tinnitus therapist and ENT consultant convinced the CCG panel to overturn their own decision.  It had to be shown that I was "different to the general population" in relation to my need for treatment.  But autism was not the deciding factor; it was my very narrow ear canals (which make syringing painful and ineffective). 

I suspect that such documentation from medical experts is what's needed in most cases of CCG funding refusals.  I don't know who'd be appropriate to convince them about the need for autism assessment - maybe someone who works in mental health (even if the autism isn't itself a mental health problem).

Longman said:

Legally they must refer you. The trouble
is the Government (pre-election) has been constricting the funds of Clinical
Commissioning Groups (CCGs) which manage resources in NHS localities. Grants
have been revoked then the CCGs penalised for going into overspend, all part
of the NHS wrecking strategy. So CCGs have been forced to make stringent cuts
and some are still nominally in the red.  This means they could well
have decided to restrict autism diagnoses for adults, even though they
officially cannot do this. However the decision will be in the public domain
- the public have to have consulted. You have a legal right to view
those consultations. You may be able to go through the practice Patient
Participation Group if they have one that works properly. Otherwise you need
to go to your local CCG direct and ask why NHS autism diagnoses are being
witheld. My guess is the GP is simply in error, but the whole business of cut
backs is confusing. NAS should know about this [...].

Hi RidleyRumpus,

That sounds all rather familiar, chemistry here and research rather than teaching but without a job even that little difference is gone now...

It's rubbish what you have been told but it seems a very common response. What they should do according to NICE guidelines is to have you fill in that AQ10 questionnaire and if you are above a certain threshold there they should recommend you to be assessed. Then a board will have to decide whether the assessment gets funded.

I got precisely the same comment, it turned out the GP who said it (and even said that it is well possible that I've got AS) does actually sit on this board...

On some autism websites they recommend to take a printout of those guidelines to your GP but on the website of our local NAS branch they have a whole page about this problem and they ask people to report to them if they have an experience like yours. They said they will contact them to explain that they are wrong and what they should be doing and asked me to see the GP again and ask for it again. I saw a different GP the second time (in the same practice), so I'm not entirely sure if it was because of the NAS contacting the practice but suddenly I did get referred.

Maybe contact your NAS branch about it and ask them for help, I think that will make it easier than going to the GP with lots of literature, they may have a bit more weight.

Have a good thought though of what use that label will be to you. You may have an explanation for the problems then but it confirms you are probably not going to be able to change enough regardless how hard you try and you won't get any help really. And it's not helping you with finding a job. Obviously you don't need to tell anyone but you may find out that you are actually a lot less "normal" than you thought. After losing a job your self-confidence probably has suffered quite a lot already anyway - maybe we don't compare quite so well here, but this diagnosis did shake the last bit of it out of me. But then I wanted to be told that perhaps I'm not completely average in some areas but not so far off that it could be called a condition, so perhaps if you want a diagnosis to explain things to yourself then you will feel different about it.

Good luck anyway, both with that assessment stuff and with getting a new job!

That's ridiculous! You should be able to get a referral regardless of where you are. Have you made a formal complaint to the practice? You should because they can then find out what the NHS can do.