'Paul's ' story

To be fair they can’t really do anything about a broken toe I don’t think, I’ve broken my little ones many times. And for broken bones that can be put in a cast you’d be better off going to A&E for an X-ray :) 

Unknown said:

How many autistic and/or schizophrenic persons subjected to such an attitude decide to keep future health issues to themselves, with sometimes fatal consequences?

Many - very many, I fear.

[Trigger Warning - suicide mention]

I have a feeling that many of the "oh my God, WHY did they do that - they seemed so normal and together?" suicides are as a result of undiagnosed autism and comorbidities.  Just a hypothesis.....but one that I think I have insight into ?!

Bump it up 3

also i recently went to gp as i kicked my barbell weights by mistake and think i broke my little toe and was having trouble walking.... the gp filled a online thing for me despite me being there in person, told me to go home and said they will contact me when its seen to. they emailed me on that ask my gp thing and all they did to "help" was give me some sort of internet link to a description of broken toes lmao and ended the case on that... very usefull!!! *sarcasm*

the nhs is rubbish, trust me they do this on everything...

for example one of my cases, i went in with swolen red black fingers one time and they looked at my med history and noted i trapped my fingers in a door in high school years and years ago and then they seemed to end the case then.... despite the fact trapping my fingers was long gone years ago and not relevant, they just saw a past finger injury and then used a past finger injury from like 15 years ago to ignore a current finger problem at the time.... the nhs is rubbish as i say, they do anything and find any excuse to not do their job.

Often people with existing disabilities are treated absolutely terribly and assumed to be unreliable narrators of their own experience. The way autism and schizophrenia both make you perceive the world differently to others just makes that even worse, unfortunately.

I was once refused treatment for a painful medical condition that developed as a result of a different and already diagnosed issue. The doctor was very insistent that it was 'just my anxiety'. I have no doubt that if he had known I was autistic it would have been even more difficult to be taken seriously- and that was for something significantly less awful than a broken bone!

'Paul' couldn't get to a doctor. Doctor came to see him. After paramedics had dismissed his pain as 'psychological'. OTs came in, despite being in intense pain 'Paul' did all he could to comply with the exercises etc. After a while it dawned on them that perhaps there was at least a slight problem. There then followed a catalogue of errors in arranging suitable transport for 'Paul' to be x rayed. 'Paul' had to be slid down the stairs on a special sheet in order to get out and get into the ambulance.

Unfortunately some people are more interested in covering their own backs than the wellbeing of the patient. They will use anything to try and deflect blame away from themselves.

Unknown said:

How many autistic and/or schizophrenic persons subjected to such an attitude decide to keep future health issues to themselves, with sometimes fatal consequences?

It's a sad reality that autistic people die earlier. Accessing healthcare is already difficult for us and a bad experience such as you describe can make it even more difficult.

Authority is granted to those who don't deserve it.

This sucks :( Sorry for Paul.

This really reminded me of the fact that mortality rates for women having children in the USA is increasing as when women voice pains/concerns/issues they're basically medically gaslighted and told that they're just confused because of the pain medication or that it's normal, only for them to die later.

I think it was Serena Williams (could be wrong?) who said that she voiced concerns after having her child only to be told that she's fine etc... She had to push a lot and eventually hours later she managed to convince them to give her a chest scan and it turned out her lungs were basically covered in clots and she needed to be rushed into immediate life-saving surgery.

If neurotypical people are being treated like this, it doesn't surprise me that neurodivergent people are facing it as well. Especially if they can't advocate for themselves.

Unknown said:

'Paul', has 2 falls. Paul's pain dismissed as 'psychological'. 7 weeks later x ray reveals a broken femur.

There must be a bunch of stuff in the timeline here that led to the X-Ray.

How long until he went to a doctor?

Was it the same doctor that saw him on subsequent visits and who then arranged the X-Ray?

Who described him as psychological and who brought up his self harm history?

It isn't just autistic / disabled people who are treated this way though, the elderly and many other groups who are seen as "troublesome" or a burdon on the GPs do often receive the same level of disregard and sometimes abuse.

Changing attitudes will not come anytime soon as this seems very much a facet of human nature I fear - we are seen as complicated and troublesome to deal with so are often given treatment like this.

I agree it is not acceptable, but a societal level change need to happen for things to change.

Too many Jobsworths in the System, with little enthusiasm for their work.

Oddly enough, many of them cut their teeth at Illegal Raves, thirty-five years ago, and then went to Rehab and then dyed their hair pink or purple.

It's all about them.