After a few years of realising I'm autistic, my GP's referral for formal testing ended up with me being assessed and then diagnosed as autistic in May 2026. The specialised autism service did a great job in my assessment and with my diagnostic report - I clearly saw a lot of autistic traits I wasn't even aware of, which was helpful.
However, at age 67 I had a lot of issues with this very late diagnosis. Especially regarding my self-identity and 60 years of masking (I found school report cards clearly reporting autistic traits that then "disappeared" the next term - actually when I discovered copying others and doing what teachers expected. That set up a lifetime of masking). At 67 I now don't know who I really am after masking for 60 years.
I was supposed to get three post-diagnostic follow-up support sessions with a psychologist over the phone. In the first session she laughed at me twice: when I described a traumatic childhood issue and when I told her I am distressed about the negative impact that my auditory processing disorder is having on my life. The effect of her laughing at me during my upsetting life experiences caused me to go into shutdown and end the session 10 minutes early. Nearly one month later, I'm still thinking of this awful experience every day and I get sudden anxiety attacks when remembering what she did.
I wrote her an email about her unprofessional behaviour and impact on me. Her reply didn't have an apology nor did she take responsibility for her appalling behaviour, instead she shifted the responsibility to me, saying I "misunderstood" what happened and that she "uses humour in counselling sessions". However, the fact is that she laughed while I disclosed traumatic and distressing experiences. There was nothing humorous in either experience. I cancelled the two remaining "support" sessions.
I have contacted complaint sites, a clinical neuropsychologist (PhD level) I know, and my MP to get some consultation/advice for my distressing experience. Everyone has been disgusted (and upset on my behalf) by her behaviour and they all urged me to make an official complaint, which I intend to do.
I'm writing this to ask if anyone experienced something like this (I hope not!) or if anyone has feedback or advice for me. I'd greatly appreciate any thoughts, comments, suggestions. Thank you for reading this.
