apologies for the large font format. I have varifocal glasses so when i become the cats hot water bottle & have to move the laptop, the text is then in the wrong place to see small letters!
Hello there,
50+ with 2 adult sons diagnosed ASD as children. The eldests paediatrician said “normally i say this to the Dad but in this case, sorry Mum he gets it from you”. That was 25 years ago, and it was a lightbulb moment as i came to realise why i had always found school (head like a weathercock) college (accused of cheating after the first round of exams because i would never answer out loud in class) & life in general so hard (generally like cats more than most people & phone-phobic). At least it meant i could cut myself some slack as to why i just did not ‘get’ most people.
I have also always had a problem with hearing but performed perfectly at a hearing test in a soundproofed environment. i actually burst into tears when the audiologist told me I had A1 hearing. “But why can’t i hear?” i wailed. A few probing questions later and she told me it sounded like i had an issue with auditory processing and that a hearing aid cannot help with that. Another lightbulb moment.
That was 4 years ago, so why seek assessment for myself now?
4 years ago we were still in aftershocks from Covid and i had been on the shielding list (other medical issues). COvid gave me a great excuse to avoid people, and not wanting to burden the NHS gave me another excuse to avoid further assessment. I am a great avoider.
I only asked for my hearing to be tested for the sake of my marriage; my husband had got so exasperated, yelling “when will you get your ears tested, you’re *****ing deaf!” after i had asked him to repeat something for the 5th time. I happened to be standing next to a near boiling kettle making the drink he had asked for but hey ho! He was actually a real sweetie, but even he had his limits.
And i have gotten off topic again, sorry.
i have been called for Jury duty, and am in a state of severe anxiety every time I think about it.
I went to my GP practice and told them i was worried about not being able to hear in the courtroom, and told her what the audiologist had said about the processing difficulty. I was told that wont excuse me from Jury duty, and that it is quiet in the courtroom, and only one person speaks at a time, so i should be ok. Oh and i am being referred back to audiology, even though the GP agreed that it sounded like i should have an assessment for ASD, but there’s a 3-4 year waiting list for that and they can’t even put me on the waiting list unless i have had a hearing test within the last 2 years.
Of course i neglected to mention that it terrifies me, that i feel nauseous just thinking about it (am near hyperventilating typing this), am on anti-depressants, have mobility issues, have a sleeping disorder, have social anxiety, and my ability to ‘put a smile on’ depends upon my energy levels (and this time of year i am utterly exhausted). And that’s without the huge worry that i could make a mistake in judgement and ruin someone’s life simply because i heard wrong. That really weighs on me.
i have already sent the forms back to Jury Selection so i cant add anything now, but at least i can email them. It would just be so much easier with a diagnosis rather than have to go into detail about what i have problems with.
ANYway, i found myself here as it is a long time since i hit the research button on ASD/ ADHD/ Aspie/ pragmatic language impairment etc and had no idea there were so many (ahem) older neurodiverse people.
Crumbs, i was only gonna say hi.
Sorry about that.
I do have a question though - am i the only one here that finds Big Bang Theory funny? I worked in various laboratories for 20 years (though in chemistry rather than physics) so that may be why. I saw many former colleagues in the various characters over the course of the show.
nite nite everyone
Kz
