Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi everyone,
A brief introduction - I am a thirty year old woman, and during my twenties there was a conversation that I had three times with three different friends. Here is the jist of it:
Friend: "I think you might have Asperger Syndrome."
Me: "Oh. What do you think I should do about that?"
Friend: *shrug*
These were all people who knew me well, and all had some knowledge/experience of ASD (one had Asperger Syndrome herself, one worked with autistic adults for several years, and one studied ASD at uni). I understood where they were coming from. I have had issues with social interaction since I was a child, being socially passive and very uncomfortable with prolonged socialising. Sometimes I really struggle to process what people are saying, which led me to think I had hearing issues for a while (it turns out my ears are fine). I thrive on routine and often feel lost when my life loses its usual structure. I'm also hypersensitive to heat, cold, and food textures.
However, there are other things that make me think I don't have AS. For example, I consider my empathy skills to be fairly good - I can often tell how people are feeling from their tone of voice or even their posture. This makes me think that my social issues might just be due to an introverted personality. Also, I'm the type of person who could easily be stereotyped as having AS - I'm nerdy, brainy, and I also happen to be asexual/aromantic (I don't experience sexual or romantic attraction) which people seem to get confused with AS for some reason.
I've been struggling with my anxiety lately, which makes me think I should investigate this so I can deal with my mental health more productively. I'm considering asking my GP for an assessment. I've read a lot of testimonies from people who got diagnosed as adults and they mostly seem very positive. So many people say that it helped them understand and accept themselves, and that they have no regrets about getting diagnosed.
However, I am interested in the other side of this experience. What about the people who get assessed for ASD and find out that they don't have it? Does this come as a relief, or a disappointment? Does it just leave you with the same old questions and no support? Maybe this isn't the best place to ask this question, since I suppose most people on this site do have a diagnosis. But Google is being useless so I thought I should give it a go. Any information you can give me would be much appreciated.
Thanks for reading through this very long post!
Well I had plenty of misdiagnosed as a child, as in the 60's this was seen as mental illness! It was evidently decided I would grow out of it though and then I was made to feell like an attention seeker for going to the GP for anything at all! Then at uni I got no end if flak for avoiding eye contact and generally being called weird, strange, detached. Great!
Unfortunately I hear it can depend on how the examiner applies the criteria. It is subjective alas as there is no blood test or brain scan that will show up autism. And there could prove to be more than one type of autism anyway.
I have not pursued a diagnosis and this is not the time to ask for one with all the trouble Brexit is causing. It upset me a great deal when the question reared its head before I left the UK but being caught up in two previous recessions did not do much for my confidence. I could not have borne the idea that I might be disabled enough not to be able to manage my life and make my own decisions as an adult without help. Now after having already worked for more than 20 years I know I can be an am totally able to live my life without help. Largely that us all that matters though I am still very pleased to find a forum where I can meet other people who have shared what I presume to be similar life challenges