Hello
I am a high functioning sufferer of ASD. I am also a late diagnosis member of the lost generation, being diagnosed approx 3 years ago at the age of 43. (i am now 46)
over the past 3 years i have been to see approximately 5 different doctors and asked about their knowledge of ASD.
I have yet to encounter one GP that has more than the most basic understanding of the complex umbrella disorder and thus,
feel like us sufferers of ASD have been left out of professional medical health care, due to incompetence on the part of the GPs in question.
I was thinking that when considering how prevalent the condition is (thought to be over 1%), while not being so common that a majority suffers
from the condition (thus making knowledge on the area extremely common).
I would say that there is a strong argument to say that this common minority condition warrants the need for GP's to set up specialist practices specifically
for this target market, so that this target market can receive high quality professional treatment form practitioners who not only know a little about their condition,
but have a good comprehensive knowledge on this specialist and much misunderstood field.
Better still, it would be awesome to have a surgery or practice set up that has not only a well versed GP who has an in-depth understanding of all the conditions
that come under the ASD umbrella, but a practice that also has a specialist clinical psychologist who is specialist in this area, an occupational therapist who is specialist in this area,
and a specialist psychiatrist who is specialist in this area.
A one stop shop to treat the 1% of the population, in their area.
I mean, the island that i live (jersey), there is a good but overly in demand service for evaluation and diagnosis, there is a drop in service for supporting people with ASD
that includes people who are occupational therapists, care workers etc.
Which is great if things are going well.
However, what if one needs something such as medical treatment for meds for anxiety, sensory overload meltdown, aggressive behaviour.
That is unique to ASD (as the causes are different to other conditions).
Then, who does the person with ASD turn to for this advice, when most GP's and even psychiatrists are fairly clueless to the complex issues found in ASD.
In Jersey, we have a population of over 110,000.
Which means that we have more than 1,000 with a formal diagnosis.
Despite this, i still find it hard to find a GP or even a psychiatrist who knows what that are talking about, or who isn't in denial that the condition even exists.
Please consider.
Thanks
