Having looked into this a bit in my area (Orange County, CA), I find it interesting that on the RCOC eligibility criteria it only says 'diagnosed' before 18 one place and the rest of the stuff say it has to have 'manifested' before that.
I'm guessing that they mean that you must have significant proof of symptoms going back before the age of 18, but so'nt actually need to have been diagnosed by that point.
Also, apparently under Cali law it's these criteria & not the diagnosis itself that dertermines elegibility, unless you're diagnosed with classic Autism from the DSM-IV or a few other developmental disabilities that are categorically eligible:
"
§54001. Substantial Disability.
(a) “Substantial disability” means:
(1) A condition which results in major impairment of cognitive and/or social functioning, representing sufficient impairment to require interdisciplinary planning and coordination of special or generic services to assist the individual in achieving maximum potential; and
(2) The existence of significant functional limitations, as determined by the regional center, in three or more of the following areas of major life activity, as appropriate to the person's age:
(A) Receptive and expressive language;
(B) Learning;
(C) Self-care;
(D) Mobility;
(E) Self-direction;
(F) Capacity for independent living;
(G) Economic self-sufficiency.
(b) The assessment of substantial disability shall be made by a group of Regional Center professionals of differing disciplines and shall include consideration of similar qualification appraisals performed by other interdisciplinary bodies of the Department serving the potential client. The group shall include as a minimum a program coordinator, a physician, and a psychologist.
(c) The Regional Center professional group shall consult the potential client, parents, guardians/conservators, educators, advocates, and other client representatives to the extent that they are willing and available to participate in its deliberations and to the extent that the appropriate consent is obtained.
(d) Any reassessment of substantial disability for purposes of continuing eligibility shall utilize the same criteria under which the individual was originally made eligible.
"
I'd be willing to bet that I should qualify, not that I necessarily would.
Having looked up the specifics of each area I fall woefully short & suffer significant impairment in terms of my functionality in areas C, F, and G.
It's extremely important to note, however, that each regional center determines its own criteria for eligibility within its own interpretation of the law.
Since the judicial rulings in terms of these things have been mixed, there's apparently no hard & fast rules in terms of who they take & who they don't.
Add that to the fact the assessments can and do tend to vary significantly from assesor to assesor, despite the many efforts made to ensure a certain fairness & uniformity in terms of the assessments, and it seems likely that unless a person is obviously, outwardly impaired in various ways which can't be disputed or interpreted as being something else that they'd be turned away, for financial reasons if nothing else, even if they technically fit all the criteria in terms of functional impairments.
Like me for instance.
I can easily show that I have substantial functional difficulties caused by my autism, which there's plenty of evidence for from before I turned 18, in at least three of the seven major areas of life activity.
However, I'm intelligent, articulate, even a bit witty, and I've learned how to deal with a wide range of social interactions quite well to the point where in many situations no one ever notices anything the least be weird or off about me.
I can even deal with eye contact fairly well on a limited basis these days.
I'd bet that based on that stuff they'd turn me away, even though I technically meet their definition of having a substantial disability based on the criteria above.
Of course, I haven't applied for services through them yet so I could certainly be wrong, and to be honest I'm not sure there's much they could do to really help me at this point so I probably won't unless it seems imperative for some reason at some future date.
06 Apr 2014, 3:03 am
