Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi all, I’m new here and was hoping for advice please. I had an autism assessment 2 years ago and was told that I had many symptoms of ASD but that I didn’t have autism. I was heartbroken as I have felt different all my life and really thought that autism could be the explanation for it all.
I looked back on my assessment and felt I didn’t explain my issues well enough and maybe masked etc. I am terrible at eye contact for example and the fact I knew they would be assessing things such as eye contact made me focus on it even more than normal so who knows what I portrayed. Also the assessor wanted to know about my childhood and I wasn’t able to answer the questions because I didn’t want to ask my parents or tell them about the assessment. Since hearing about the flurry of adult females in the media being diagnosed later in life I have requested a GP appointment to get a referral for a second opinion. Has anyone else done this before?
I swing from being absolutely certain I’m autistic to feeling a bit narcissistic and silly even suggesting it. My son and my Dad show signs which is another reason for me pursuing a diagnosis at the age of 36. It’s brought up so many emotions and I’m feeling so exposed and raw dredging through all the challenges I have faced to prepare for another assessment. I would be so gutted if they tell me I’m not autistic for a second time.
I don’t seem to have many relevant symptoms when I was a child and most of my issues relate to secondary school onwards. Do you know if you have to have symptoms from birth to be diagnosed as autistic?
Sorry to brain dump. Thank you for your help.
Hiya,
Well something causes your distress and it is important to know what that something is; autism or otherwise, you need the right answer. You do well to double check by asking for a second opinion.
Have a good, hard, critical think about your childhood. Yes, traits need to have been present then. Autism does not appear out of nowhere later in life, albeit it may not be recognised or cause a problem until later in life. Those traits don't necessarily need to have caused a shed load of problems in childhood. Any child loved for who they are can thrive. That means autistic ones too. But the traits do need to have been there very early.
Even if you do fall short of the diagnostic criteria, they have noted some of them. And those traits might well mean that this forum and an ND solution rather than an NT solution is appropriate for you with some things.