Verbal Instruction

I recently experienced something I thought was interesting, and thought it may be worth relaying here.  A bit of background information first - I am currently awaiting a Full Assessment for ASD, and one of the things I have always had problems with is understanding verbal instruction.

A few days ago, I was speaking to somebody at my car insurance company, who was giving me information about my car policy, and I was finding it very hard to take in the facts and figures.  I explained to the man in the call centre that I was having problems taking in the information, and thought he might not understand what I meant by that, so then told him with a bit of hesitation "basically I'm mildly autistic".  He'd been quite helpful before I mentioned autism, but then he asked if I would like him to read out the key points of the policy so I could write them down, which I said would be very helpful indeed.  He explained the various details, giving me time to write them down, so I could understand and process them, and respond appropriately.  It was such a good experience for me to speak to somebody in this way, and after the call I felt very positive about having understood the information much more clearly.  As I sometimes have trouble speaking in the "wrong" places in phone conversations too, I found the space that he gave me in the conversation was less stressful.

However, I must admit to feeling a bit uneasy about claiming I was "mildly autistic", not because I don't feel comfortable thinking of myself in this way - diagnosis would in fact be a comfort - but because I was claiming to be something that (at the moment at least) I'm not.  Also, I've heard it said that "there's nothing mild about Autism" - because ASD means so many different things to so many on the spectrum.

If I felt overloaded with information on a phone call again, which is common for me, I'd be tempted to mention autism again, because it helped me to get sense and the relevant details from the call.

I guess what I'm asking here is should I feel at ease doing this again?  I suppose it comes down to me wanting to be honest (I've been told many times that I am!).

I'd be interested to know what others think.  After my realisation that I may have ASD recently, I'm now in that difficult middle ground until I get my Full Assessment.

Parents
  • You are either autistic or not and that is true whether or not you have a diagnosis. If you don't want to claim to be officially autistic then you can say that you believe that you might be autistic and that you would be grateful for help. The fact that you coped better after you disclosed supports your suspicion that you are autistic.

Reply
  • You are either autistic or not and that is true whether or not you have a diagnosis. If you don't want to claim to be officially autistic then you can say that you believe that you might be autistic and that you would be grateful for help. The fact that you coped better after you disclosed supports your suspicion that you are autistic.

Children
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