Published on 12, July, 2020
Hello all i am gus c a 69 year old pensioner who volunteers for lots of different organisations . I had been suffering what i thought was anxiety and depression after being diagnosed with prostate Cancer 12 years ago and having no support in the way of family or friends . I had one to one councelling at my GP's one to one therapy with a mental Health Nurse ,Group Therapy and CBT but non of them worked . The only thing that works for me is voluntary work and lots of it . Anyway i went to my GP feeling very low about 5 weeks ago and asked for a Mental Health assessment . I went for it last saturday morning and had a lot of questionaires with tick boxes and the practitioner looked at them and said i definatelly had Asperger's Syndrome and anxiety is part of it . I have not had a very good life up till now and i think it may be i have had it for all my life . I had a bad time at school with bullying and time off with injuries .Losing an eye and breaking bones including a badly broken leg after being pushed off a bike by bullies . I have been harrassed by bullies for money lately and have had them jailed three times and another case coming to court next month . The amount taken from me is in the thousands of pounds . The assessor said he would get me some help for the Court Case and told me to get in touch with you here . I volunteer Nationally with NHS England as a patient rep for Urology on a clinical reference group and Judging Vanguard Bids for new models of care with NHS England and interviewing new staff for NHS England at all levels . I am Patient Representative (removed by mod) for Urological Cancer . I can work at a high level and be listened to but i can also just resign for the most trivial things if i feel i have been talked to the wrong way . I dont know what the treatment is or if there is any or what happens from now .
Hi Gus,
It is good to see you make use of volunteer opportunities because it does give more opportunity for social interfacing to be tried and explored, and reduces isolation. People seem to be more forgiving to the foibles of volunteers.
I'm another very late diagnosis a decade ago at 55. Fortunately one of the things I had long before got involved in was committee work. Provided the committees followed formal rules and people spoke one at a time I was fine, but noisy meeting with people talking across are bad for me.
Because they are structured, and manageable environments, it means I get plenty of practice at interaction, which I would otherwise have avoided. I have also been a chair person and am a chair person currently, which is something I seem able to do.
I do a lot of committee work across health sector, social services and disability as a volunteer member of the public, including committees attended by representatives like yourself.
It is very easy to become a recluse with autism because of the risk of getting hurt or having bad sensory experiences makes it preferable.
However voluntary roles can get round that and help people get out and about more