Revoking a autistic statement

Sinouy,

We don't know anything about you, when you were diagnosed and how old etc so we may be wandering off topic?

I was diagnosed at 56 and realise that I have been this way all my life but mostly I thought I was normal. I kept hitting confrontations and ended up with serious problems at work. Now, with a diagnosis I am beginning to understand myself and life is getting easier. I suspect that Longman's experience may reflect experience and understanding and learning to make some adjustments?

I don't think you can turn back the clock but you don't have to tell anyone/everyone about your diagnosis. I think there is a tendency among us to tell too many people as we don't really get the value of privacy or understand the dangers of being open. You can make a fresh start by taking a new job or moving to a new area - I've just moved jobs and so far I am glad that I have. However, I've started the new job by disclosing my condition - my boss is being good about it but I shall have to see how it goes. I haven't told many of my colleagues but I guess I may do in time.

An autism diagnosis describes a person at one point in time, autism profiles can change over a lifetime.

You might have been diagnosed at school where peer pressure is at its greatest and spectrum difficulties often become more obvious. You might then, as an adult, become much better at coping and compensating so it is no longer obvious.

What puzzles me about the diagnosis is the efforts parents go to to 'cure' their child's autism, in the hope of a better adult life when in fact all the attempts to correct behaviour and deprogramme and so on probably do more harm than good. It isn't a deviant behaviour that can be corrected, it is a disability based on cognitive and communicative skills. It can change but the cure is a myth.

I think the key thing you have to think about is what is the stigma, the diagnosis or the behaviours. You may not fully appreciate the impact of the behaviours. A diagnosis helps you understand the condition and develop skills to compensate, and it gives you access to support and services. If you don't feel you need the interventions any more and can manage fine, then you could well ask for a re-assessment.

But as stateofindependence says you might be better just not mentioning it, and carrying on without presenting the diagnosis.

Also I think more questions might be asked if you got the diagnosis reversed, people might suppose you were wrongly diagnosed or faked it before.

An issue that concerns me is that in later life I'm managing. That wasn't always the case, and my teens particularly, and through my twenties I was in a bad way. There does seem to be this notion that if you are managing you haven't really got aspergers or autism. So what was wrong with me in my teens? Was I just making a fuss about nothing?

I guess you would need to go back to your GP and ask for a re-referral. And if they say no, go private. If you are young, they will probably want your parents input. 

I was recently diagnosed in my 40s and often wonder how things would have been had I been diagnosed as a child. Sometimes I think I would have had more support at school, some positive role models/mentors, and a good career. Other times I think maybe it would just have been one more thing I would have been bullied about, and (as you say) a stigma. 

Whatever you decide to do, you are under no obligation to tell anyone you are or were ever diagnosed as, autistic. I have not "come out" to many people. Certainly not at work - I overheard my manager make a disparaging general comment about Aspergers last week, and kept quiet. Then felt bad that I did not speak out :-(