Finally - Assessment Date Given

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.

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.

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

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.