Finally - Assessment Date Given

Thanks. I'm happy I have the chance to gain some understanding.  Will keep you posted.

Congratulations mate. It's natural to be anxious but honestly you will be fine! The people you see will understand and help you in any way they can. Keep us posted on how you get on 

Thank you for the support.  I think it's just all the formality of it all.  The forms and tests are in so guess most of the assessment is complete.

I haven't had to wait 3 years which I'm pleased about.  I do identify anyway. I think it's just the formality of things.  Mine is 20th July so not long to wait really. Thanks

I registered around then also.  I think it's been around 8 weeks since I returned my forms.  Good luck with your assessment.

I actually didn't know mine was comming I got tested behind my back as a kid. But I'm happy for you to finally get a date, hopefully it is happy-nervousness.

I was very nervous when I got mine, it is like all of the energy I had put into the waiting process (3 years for me) finally just came out in one go.  I found that taking a few minutes to add to my prep was helpful for me.  I am glad you have an assessment date booked in now! I hope it isn't too long.

Congratulations and yes! I was so nervous before mine but don't worry it will all go well and be fine. They are professional but are really understanding and supportive. I hope it goes well.

Sure. I'm not against a diagnosing. Eagerly waiting for it. And if the doctor provides a better explanation than ASD - I would seriously consider it. But if they just say "not ASD, you are all right" - I would not trust that. 

DragonBender said:

But my knowledge of myself is clearly better than of even an experienced doctor.

That is true, but there are other possibilities here.

You may have Munchausens Syndrome or factitious disorder (I'm not saying you do) and could be faking the symptoms.

A clinical diagnosis would be likely to catch this even if the cause is subconcious.

I'm not saying you have any of these but highlighting that an experienced doctor performing the test would be much more accurate than you, even with you having read about it.

I've spent two months, read 5 books (including the fundamental ones used by doctors), and countless other sources. I'm fairly confident my knowledge on the topic is not much worse than of the junior doctors. But my knowledge of myself is clearly better than of even an experienced doctor.

DragonBender said:

I agree it should be OK to self-identify, just saying it applies even more to autism. 

If you identify as autistic but are actually ADHD (lots of crossovers in traits) then you are not actually identifying the underlying cause means you are not gettign an accurate diagnosis so are probably not using the most effective approach to them.

Of course you can chose to label yourself as autistic, but without the knowledge of the truth it may be counterproductive to your own wellbeing.

Wait, I never said anything against trans people. I agree it should be OK to self-identify, just saying it applies even more to autism. 

UPD: I've updated my original comment to remove this questionable part. I can see how people can get offended indeed, even if I didn't mean it.

Self-diagnosis is perfectly fine and accepted here. If you could drop the transphobic stuff though, that would be swell.

ASD is actively being renamed to ASC (condition). That's what I self-identify with.

Also, as I mentioned, the diagnosis is not important. The self-diagnosing path helped me to looks at particular aspects of my personality, find the weak parts and focus on them regardless of ASC or not. Since the trait exists, and ASD books/community provides ways of dealing with them - who cares if I have all other traits to formally qualify for ASD or not? I'm not going to use my diagnosis for anything, to claim anything. It's purely for me to better understand myself. And apparently I don't need a label on me to start acting.

Oh, by the way, gender disphoria is at the exact same state of being a "disorder but not disorder" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK532313/#:~:text=Gender%20dysphoria%20(GD)%2C%20according,termed%20%22gender%20identity%20disorder.%22 - but it's still OK to "self-identify", right?

DragonBender said:

I think at this time when a person can say "I'm a woman" despite a contradictory evidence between the legs, it should be OK to say "I am autistic" after doing few months of focused research. 

Well that is a can of worms.

Autism is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder and is classified as a disability.

To conciously chose to identify as this would probably be unethical.

Could I, as an old, white, straight male, chose to identify as a black lesbian teenager? It has the same principle behind it. Should I change my name to Dee Dee?

Leaving that aside, your diagnosis should be much more accurate if you are honest in answering the questions on the RAADS test - this asks about your perceptions on things now and when you were a child.

The reason for asking about the two different times in lfe is that as you as a child you had much poorer masking skills so differences between the two times are going to default to the answers you gave about when you were young.

Any capable psychologist or psychiatrist can see through your masking with this and possibly a few follow up questions and indeed the tests are designed specifically with this in mind.

If you get a negative result then maybe you are not autistic, but that is something to embrace. Knowing means you can find out what you truly are and can learn to love it.

How long did it take to get the date?

I've registered in Feb, still waiting.

But actually I stopped caring about it, I don't think I'll be nervous. I've read 5 books and many-many articles to be 99% sure on my diagnosis, and 70% sure I can be diagnosed. Why so big difference? Because low support requirement ASD is hard to diagnose, especially in adults with high cognitive abilities, who adapted (masked) well. So even receiving a negative diagnosis would not change my mind. 

The society is finally OK accepting a person self-identifying any gender. I think it should be OK to say "I am autistic" after doing few months of focused research, and nobody should be able to object it. Of course if you want to claim benefits from it - it's a tricky part and you still need to formally qualify.

Think about it, weight what you know about yourself, and stick to it. Of course it helps if a professional supports your self-identity, but even without it - you should know differences you have (due to ASD or not - doesn't matter) and learn to live with them.

Are you worried about the test or about the result?

The test is just some questions about how you feel and felt about things when you were young - quite general and not in the lease difficult.

It is important to be brutally honest and not fear judgement.

As for the result - it changes nothing if you want that to be the case. You can do as much or as little as you feel right with.

If you are afraid of knowing then don't be. With knowledge comes power - the power to learn more about your situation and to do something with it to make your life better.

Take control and do it would be my advice.

Thank you for the reply. Yes we are designed to worry.  It's crazy that I was obsessed with getting an assessment date and now I have it I wish I didn't

It's natural to be nervous. It matters and we probably have more of a tendency to build these things up in our heads than most people. The people doing it will expect it and will probably be as understanding as anyone you're going to have something like this with. 

Good luck.