Still unsure about my Autism, realised the possibility last week and so i'm here to find out more, positive and negative, to understand myself better.

Very interesting, I hadn't thought of it that way.

Bell's Accommodation Theory... Having done socio-linguistics, it is normal to an extent to modify our speech to concord with people we want to get on with and to distinguish ourselves from those we don't like.  My son's father has three different accents which he uses in different contexts; Welsh with his family (who are Welsh), South London with his friends (from where he was raised) and standard English for work. 

That said, to whole sale take on someone else's accent is very unusual and you're probably right about the masking there.

Haha that's funny the way you say you're accent was different from your area were you grew, I'm from London but my ex was from derby and I lived with her for 6 months in derby during the first lockdown and I started to pick her accent which was a mix of wolverhampton and derby. But I think things like that happen to me as a result of my unconscious masking I always try my best to make sure that I don't stand out where ever I may be I just don't want attention drawn to myself.

Pmsl, I know the feeling, grew up in Cardiff and gave myself a neutral accent. Life is about to get very interesting I think! Same here with looking for as much information as possible .. can't stop thinking of the film rain man though.. no wonder enjoy casino's! ;)

Yes, me too.  Once over the shock, I became totally obsessed - hyper focused, I might even say.  Research was all I could do for weeks...

I found so many answers to all sorts of stuff about me that I thought were just bizarre personality quirks, because of my dyslexia or the result of some other adverse childhood event.  As a linguist, I've always wondered why my mother's descriptions of my speech development don't fit what I know to be the 'text book' stages, for instance, and why I don't have an accent local to where I was born and raised, or to anywhere in fact. Or why my podiatrist ex-boyfriend said my gait was slightly strange...the answers were all down that rabbit hole.  

I mustn't prejudge the assessment, but my hunch is that minimum they'll tell me I have traits and those traits are what's getting in the way of medical care.

Hi there,

I guess you could say I'm newly autistic was diagnosed a few weeks ago, however my story is that I have always struggled my whole life with lots of things mainly social and interpersonal interactions it's just confusing I've gotten better as a result masking and studying people through my life in and still do.

I came to the realisation because a few months ago I was really struggling with my mental health and I was looking into why I felt the way I felt and I happened to come a across a video explaining autistic traits in adults and I was hooked for lack of a better word, I researched day and night for about 2 months straight and that's all that occupied my mind (which turned out to be a autistic trait in it's self becoming obsessed with things) but the bottom line is research, research, research.

Eventually you'll find your answer to whether or not you think your autistic as the days went by during my research I just related more and more to what I was reading and watching.

Here's some YouTube channels I used to help me incase you haven't seen them or are still looking into it.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-FpBZR7DbpvNj5UrFN8qUA

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOKKRcJey93Ms-dL630UNIQ

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk5aCrQAppGZ8atiOpgYZ1A

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFd9e6W-saUSwje3-B2lCVg

There are lots and lots of free online test you can take too that were super helpful for me as they are something you can use to in a way confirm your suspicions. I've linked a couple here but try and do as many as you can don't just stick to one as they're not all accurate, and look up the official DSM 5 autism requirements it can be quite difficult to understand as it's worded with a bit of medical jargon but there are also videos online that help with that too.

https://rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

https://www.clinical-partners.co.uk/for-adults/autism-and-aspergers/adult-autism-test

Hope this helps you.

O

Sorry I was focussing on my own things, I hope the assessment goes ok. There must be a way to work things out and help us forward, all supporting each-other could help!? Thank goodness for this page and the community I hope .. :)

I didn't even book an appointment, just wrote him a letter with the online tests and outlining the main childhood and now stuff which I thought fit and my reason for wanting an assessment.  

The GP is the NHS start point. The alternative is private assessment.

Thank you, I just did a couple of tests and they said Aspie and an RAADS-R score of 170 but i don't really know what that means other than they suggest I get professionally tested. Do I need to go through my GP, I will try there next I think.

No, you're far from alone in this.

It would never have crossed my mind and even if it had I wouldn't have been bothered enough to get a diagnosis but for the fact I think it's seriously impacting on my access to health care.

Ultimately, only you will know whether you just want to self-diagnose and look to places like this for kindred spirits who will get the traits, or whether you see some benefit in having a diagnosis.  

If you do, the online quizz thing recommended by others here is what I did.  The results shocked me, really.  But I sent them to my GP who then gave me the NHS AQ10 to fill out and he has referred me for an assessment.

On the one hand, I guess it's just a label. Who cares?  We're all different and that makes the world go round.  On the other, that label provides not just an explanation, but a path to getting the right things (care in my case) that fits the need.

But, welcome :-) Nice to hear from you.

Thank you, I will get onto it now. :)

here is some links 

do the ritvo test and AQ test. u dont need to create an account  u can just screenshot your scores. The account is to store your results

https://www.aspietests.org/

hers is another one

rdos.net/.../Aspie-quiz.php

I agree with pretty much all of the above and have done the courses with Futurelearn which I found very useful, just wish they did more especially Kent University, it would be great if they had some way of working with them to fully yourself.

Hi there,

Firstly you are not alone! There are so many people who go through life undiagnosed (officially) and then look back and think that they are different to others and realise they could be autistic. Autism has many different variations from people who are non-verbal to others to hide it quite well but struggle behind closed doors. My daughter is going through the formal process of being diagnosed at present. I'm autistic and my husband is but we have not been diagnosed. The reason for this is we are in our 30's and don't see how an official diagnosis would benefit us in any way. We both have jobs and can 'act' and 'blend in' most of the time. However, when we realised that we were also autistic it was like a revelation for us. We started examining everything we went through in school and how we react to people now and honestly it was comforting to know that we are just 'wired that way' and it is beyond our control. It was a comfort to know there was a reason we feel like outsiders sometimes. Both my husband and I struggle around other people for too long, we call it 'social hangovers' and we like our own space a lot, so we both respect that. My husband struggles with anxiety in work and lack of sleep as his busy mind keeps him awake a lot. He also has daily issues with other people when they don't conform to the rules -  he can't accept other people going against them and it makes him rather furious. I sometimes struggle with conversations with other people and copy how other people talk quite a lot. I also worry in advance about going anywhere new or meeting people. These are just some of the things we struggle with daily. The process of assessment starts with your GP. I approached my GP about my daughter and then he referred her onto the appropriate assessment centre in the area. Clinicians and psychologists got involved through some lengthy interviews (all through zoom as it was during lockdown). The questions are repetitive and require quite a lot of detail. As they need so much information before the 'assessment in person' to ascertain if it leans towards autism or something else.

My advice to you would be to do some online courses on autism. They only take a few weeks of your time, can be done whenever you like and they are free. This means you can learn a bit more about it all and decide for yourself if you are identifying with the characteristics of autism. It will help you understand yourself better and you can talk to other people (online) about your experiences and seek advice. The courses I have done are 'Supporting and engaging people with autism' and 'Understanding autism' by Futurelearn. They are fantastic and I would highly recommend them.

I hope this helps, so you don't feel so alone. Have you got someone close to you that you can talk to about this? It really helps to let the people that are closest to you know what you are going through as they can support you and when you find out more about it you can teach them a bit about it too - which in turn helps them understand you better.

Take care ;)

Thank you, that would be good. Sadly I know a lot about my self from decades of observation and it's highly indicative of Autistic traits, so appears to be the logical conclusion, but that's still a hugely unknown factor for me and the ramifications .. but more importantly the possible help to not be so isolated and alone which i know should be wrong but which i have accepted as my normal way of being, the frightening part is coming stepping out from my own comfort zone and being around people who i never fully understand. I am hoping to find something  else, i do not know what yet.

Welcome to the forum, there are lots of online tests that you can take which will give you more f a clue, I'm sure some more knowledgeable people will be able to send the links.  I would say the first thing you need to do is work out yourself who you are as you say you don't want to accept it, you are who you are and you should feel comfortable in that.