Published on 12, July, 2020
My name is Tim. I am 60. I suspect I may have some degree of ASD and/or NVLD.
I have done the RAADS-R at http://aspietests.org/ Doing both conservative and liberal self assessments.
I also got my sister to answer based on what she knew of me.
I have a long history with psychiatric services since just before I was 17. My most chronic problem is social interaction difficulties. In 60 years I have struggled to have a handful of friends and currently have none IRL as opposed to online 'friends'. I experience anxiety(general and social) and paranoia.
Attempts to talk about the developmental/learning difficulties(dyspraxia,asd,nvld etc) have fallen on deaf and daft ears. Last time I mentioned it at the depot clinic I was met with total silence. A decade ago a then care coordinator arranged an appointment with a pdoc to discuss things. He asked a couple of totally irrelevant questions before huffily dismissing the issue. Have been scared to press the issue too much as I got branded awkward,demanding and troublesome for seeking more help and support before that. Psychiatric staff are so narrow minded that if you have a psych diagnosis everything is related to that diagnosis whether it makes sense to do that or not.
No response. Perhaps I don't belong here.
Please be patient, it sounds like you probably belong here and you are certainly welcome. A lot of the active people here are in the middle of their own storm, and or trying to hold down full time jobs so have limited if any time and head space to be here.
It is worth sticking around and joining in with conversations a little at a time. You have obviously been buffetted around the mental health system and that is sad, you have used a lot of abbreviations that you may be used to, but I don't know what they mean.
I'm 49 and waiting for assesment after convincing my GP it was needed, I can understand your frustration from what you've described. Can you take a print out of these results, along with some written down evidence of your 'symptoms' that coincide with the diagnostic criteria to your GP and ask for a clean sheet referral for ASD assesment?
We try to help but most of us are only like you and you have to join in and give a little for people to trust and find the energy to speak. I really hope that doesn't sound mean and encourages you to persist and be part of the community. We do care and I know that I am not speaking just for myself here.
Very good reply Spotty.
Thank you Misfit