Please help me! Make female assessments safer!

Thank you.  It has already helped just to be heard and believed.  

I am so sorry that didn’t help, I had hoped they would be able to help. I can only imagine the anger and frustration you must be feeling. 

I am still happy to offer friendship or even just an ear if needed. Either way I wish you and your family the best going forwards!

Thank you for your kind words.  Sadly going to the Ombudsman was a complete waste of time.  The Case Officer summarised my entire complaint down to 'she claims they did not follow guidelines' and then left the Clinical Advisor, who was just a general psychiatrist not an expert in autism assessments, to try to guess what the complaint was about based on the company's inaccurate records.  Total farce.  

I am so sorry for the experience you endured. I myself can spot some serious inconsistencies there and I am very newly diagnosed.

Masking is something that we do, I would know because I have done it for years.

What alarms me the most is that the call had not been disconnected and you were being monitored. That is very disturbing and intrusive. What I would like to point out is if that call had taken place in your bedroom for argument sake, that person could very easily have seen you undress. Further to that, personal discussions had with your friends or family, important phone calls and so much more were and could have been overheard. 

I cannot tell you how angry reading this has made me feel so I can only imagine how you must be feeling.

Depending how long ago this happened, if you are unsatisfied with their response you may take this to the health ombudsman. They oversee any disputes and complaints with services if you are unhappy with their response following their complaints procedure.

I really hope this helps. Should you want an additional friend I would be happy to talk with you

I'm pleased it all worked out. Due to demand I think some places are jumping on it, but either cut corners, are not as thorough, or lack experience, particularly with adults.

Adults can be complicated due to camouflaging - avoidance, masking and adaptive strategies. Mine was interested in this. They were also aware of the differences in female presentation (perhaps of less relevance to me, although I had a female masking profile).  Trauma can also affect the process.

The assessment can involve covering uncomfortable things. And if done privately where timing is more under your control, may well be being done because you are in a mess and vulnerable and really looking for an answer. 

Some skill and sensitivity is needed. 

Thank you.  I'd never used video-conferencing before, but now I've been through that experience I am much less trusting and will always check.  I have now received my official autism diagnosis from the Lorna Wing, they had no problems confirming my autism.  My GP has referred me for more trauma counselling on the NHS (I can't afford to go private anymore), so it's just a waiting game.   

I'm sorry you didn't have the experience you wanted.

I'd always be cautious in any call to ensure the call is ended from my end and not assume.

If you want  a recommendation, I can give you one for someone that specialises in adult women, including people with trauma. They are thorough.

Thank you.  Absolutely!  You'd think given there have been prime-time BBC documentaries about it, professionals in teh field would know about masking. So it was shocking that this happened in an autism assessment service that claimed to be experts in female autism.  I certainly didn't feel listened to during the assessment and especially not during the complaints process. I've since discovered that even the various Ombudsman's seem clueless about the Equality Act so their services simply don't cater to autistic people in my experience - and so the services they regulate aren't likely to get better either.  It's very sad and frustrating.    

Hi Dormouse.  If you mean me, please understand I wasn't criticising the previous flags.  I do appreciate member's good intentions in bringing posts to the moderator's attention and I thank anybody who takes the time to do that.  I just wanted to make it clear that for this post such concerns are no longer necessary since the moderators have already cleared it twice.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a tag the mods can add to show that a post has already been vetted and this meant my post kept on being unavailable to the group, hence the note.  Keep fighting the good fight Dormouse!  

I'm so sorry you had such an awful experience.  There needs to be much better understanding of autism, and updated training rolled out nationally, which is informed by autistic people and our lived experience.  Training led or co-led by autsitc people which includes a wide range of experiences, including those of late-identified or late-diagnosed women is vital.  

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