accept wrote:
I'm new here. Peace to you all.
I am thirty-one years old, British, living in the US, married with one child. I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about four years ago and have been seeing a psychologist ever since. Two weeks ago my psychologist suggested to me that he thinks I might have AS. However, he doesn't specialise in AS, so he wants me to see a psychiatrist who does for a firm evaluation.
Later another psychologist from the same practice, who works with autism spectrum children, who is not my psychologist but whom I know through other channels, told me that she has thought I had AS since she first met me, but was not allowed to diagnose other people's patients.
The suggestion that I might be AS has made me re-evaluate most of my life history, from schooling (where I was followed around by the Special Needs department as a curiosity they could make nothing of, and eventually ridiculed by them and ignored) through university (where I failed during postgraduate work through lack of understanding of social cues) through employment. It has made a whole lot of things in my past and present make a whole lot of sense.
I have had some people suggest that it's not worth going to see the other psychiatrist now, because I've had two psychologists diagnose me informally, and that ought to be enough, and it's not like I'm still at school where the Special Needs department could help me somehow given a positive diagnosis anyway: I have to go to work and pay the rent like anyone else now, and nobody's going to help me out. Still, I would like to hear it for sure.
-- accept
Welcome!
It can be nice to have an official diagnosis if you have problems at work and need accommodations (which you're entitled to with ADA) or school. But otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered except I did need it for school.
In the meantime, it's nice to read about other peoples' workarounds and things they've learned and such. Helpful info.
16 Jul 2006, 7:08 pm
