Published on 12, July, 2020
Good Evening everyone,
Firstly I should start by saying what a pleasure it is to find a place whereby there is an opportunity to discuss things without having to explain yourself. I am 43 years old and it has taken me this long to receive a diagnosis of being ASD despite having tried many times over the years. I have been told that because I am articulate that I don't have any troubles. This is despite my wife accompanying me to appointments in the past. What makes it worse is that both of us work within the health field, she is a qualified nurse whilst I am a healthcare support working at my local hospital. In due course, I'll probably return to this topic several times but for now, I just wanted to introduce myself.
In the past, I've fallen through gaps in local mental health services as well as previously being diagnosed as having PTSD only to be told by a counsellor that I am obviously fine. I put this down to the fact that when I was in my counselling sessions I spoke matter of factly without emotion and without bursting into tears or getting angry. I'm guessing that I'm not alone in my experiences in the past and this just proves how little understanding there is despite the fact that Autism is rarely out of the news.
Getting a diagnosis won't change my life although if I had it earlier undoubtedly my life would have been much easier and I would not have had the difficulties that I have had. However, having said that I have wanted answers to explain how I've felt my whole life.
I will look forward to getting involved with the forums and meeting people, exchanging ideas and learning as I go along.
Hi and welcome!I'm in a similar boat having only got my diagnosis 2 weeks ago after 52 years of feeling odd and not fitting in very well with NTs. Having known I was aspie earlier would have made a huge difference but I guess its best not to dwell on that too much as at least I know now, many never find out at all.It is interesting that you mention you and your wife working in the field of health yet getting unnoticed, I trained in Transactional Analysis psychotherapy for 2 years in my early 40s as well as seeing several therapists myself between the ages of 25 to 45 and none of them ever picked up or mentioned that I might be on the spectrum. It seems there is so much ignorance of autism even with professionals who you'd think would know better.
Hiya, How are you?
I have recently been training to be a qualified nurse. In order to get into the university I had to complete an access course. I came second out of the whole of Wales and managed to secure 36 distinctions however once I got to university it was a whole different story. I struggled from day one and although my personal tutor was instrumental in me getting diagnosed for Dyspraxia that was about the level of support I got. The study skills sessions were invariably in lecture time and not having any support with assignments is something we all struggled with. I actually failed the course by failing the final assignment of the second year. I knew exactly what I had to say but doing so in the way that the university wanted proved to be my downfall.
I would have liked to have had the diagnosis sooner because maybe then I could have asked if I could have spoken about my case study to prove I really did know what I was talking about. Instead, I failed by three points. Since that day my personal tutor hasn't ever emailed me to see if I'm okay and indeed sadly for me, my whole experience with this particular university really affected my mental health and left me feeling really disheartened.
There's no need to feel disheartened. To pass certain courses, whether academic or not. You have to meet certain criteria. Often it's a 'box ticking situation' you don't tick all the boxes, they fail you. You have indicated that you already know where you fell short.
"I knew exactly what I had to say but doing so in the way that the university wanted proved to be my downfall. "
Also, and I'm trying not to be offensive towards you. Doing well in access courses is not an achievement. University staff live and work in an environment with a big snob factor. Being on an access course is seen as a stigma by true academics. And you would have been looked down on.
This is actually quite interesting and I often felt as if some people looked down on me. I did sometimes think I was maybe being paranoid or just overly sensitive but when I've sat back and read through my portfolio in regards to the practical work I've done and more importantly the feedback from my patients I know I've done my best. I'm working now as a Health Care Support Worker and the only real differenece is that I can't give out medication. Thank you for your reply it made a lot of sense.