This sucks to no end

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I'm on standby, waiting for the call to duty.

I think it is because there is no treatment for Aspergers if you are older. Just like in the regular population some in the cohort are anxious, or depressed, and get may get a prescription for medications. But having a HFA dx doesn't qualify one for anything, being depressed or anxious does.

Yea!! It'll be fun! We'll have to wait for more snow!

LOL!! That's sweet! I'll have a whole support team soon. Look out Mikaela Shiffrin! Funny thing, I actually got these really cool hooks that go on your poles so that you can hook them to the lift safety bar so that you don't have to put your poles under your thigh when you are on the chair. The under the thigh thing gets pretty cold in below freezing temps! And when you have a full chair it gets crowded so sometimes the under the thigh move does not work too well. There is also the under the armpit pole chairlift carrying technique but that gets cold too!

You did well with that. I just called Easter Seals and apparently they no longer do that sort of thing. I have a couple of other options to try as well so we'll see how they go. Thank you for the idea though.

skibum,
in any country ASD is only accepted into the special olympics or its clubs if there is intelectual disability alongside,they dont accept HFAs to be athletes,the reason being is its a heavily supported specialist environment and they want those of us who take part to have a level playing field.

HFAs coud technicaly compete in the regular olympics;can remember the GB team for last years olympics had a young guy with severe ADHD taking part,but it depends on the individual as some are limited in sports by their HFA,whether due to sensory, motor issues etc.
perhaps it is something shoud bring up with the top guys in both the regular, and special olympics,as the special olympics is to specialist for HFAs but the regular olympics can be to high for the limitations faced by HFAs.

My DH was diagnosed 3 years ago.

Our local Easter Seals said the same thing. They don't do testing for Adult ASD anymore, as there is no treatment other than treating comorbids.

His evaluation was $2K, and our insurance paid nothing. The same party line, there are no effective treatments for adult Aspergers, so no point in you getting diagnosed.

Also, our local university psych department will not do the testing on adults, because they are swamped with kids. The department that handles it is pediatric psychology/neurology.

It blows to have Aspergers in the Midwest. There are literally no services here, unless you have connections and deep pockets.

Yeah, I was so surprised when they told me that I could compete that I had to ask 5 times to two different people. But it's cool because since they allow all levels of athletic ability and all levels of functioning ability, they can create level playing fields for the athletes by having people complete against people who are similar to them. I don't know if they do this in the UK too but here they also have what they call United Teams where they have some sports where they have teams that are mixed Abled Athletes and Disabled athletes and they compete together against other mixed teams. So far in our area they do that for Bocci, Golf, and Volleyball. They are hoping to add more to united sports list in the future. This is great because it is to help the disabled athletes with socializing and not feeling like they are always set apart from abled athletes. They said I could get in that way without a doctor's signature and at least get my foot in the door through that program but I don't do any of those sports. And I did not want to pick up a new sport because of time restraints.

Yeah, it's really crazy. I talked to the guy who originally told me I was on the Spectrum and told him about all this drama. He said that he thought the insurance had the 2 to 6 rule because they don't want people trying to get disability. That is stupid though because if we get diagnosed after 18 we can't get disability anyway and that really blows because if I ever lose my husband I would need it. And just because the diagnosis did not exist before I was 6 years old or it was barely known when I was 18, that does not mean that I don't have the symptoms and that my life is not impaired by them. If anyone deserves to get disability and help it is people like us who have lived our whole lives with symptoms which have impaired us without any help and who could end up on the street unable to live completely independently if we lost our families and support systems.

And even if I got diagnosed and ended up with a diagnoses other than Asperger's I deserve to be able to find out what it is that I have that is causing me so much difficulty in my life. But I am compiling all of my posts from WP that are about my symptoms and the guy who originally told me that I was on the Spectrum is going to help as well by letting whomever ends up diagnosing me know anything they want to know from his observations. He is also going to call his insurance to see what they say about the 2 to 6 rule since he was shocked to hear that too. I thought to call to try to find out anonymously but every time you call for anything you have to give them your id number on your insurance card so they always know who you are. I might try to call again anyway and see if I can get the answer to that question without giving my id.

Tawaki, I am sorry you and your husband had to pay so much. It's so unfair. I hate that they say stupid things like "Why should you want to bother with a diagnosis since we are not willing to help you anyway?" How would they feel if they had Sickle Cell Anemia or something and they were told that? I am sure they would want to know what was causing their symptoms and even if there were no treatments they still deserve to know and they should not have to go into debt to find out when the insurance is willing to pay for other people to find out the same thing. And as much as we are paying for the insurance every year and not cashing in on it because we don't get sick or hurt often and we don't take any meds at all, it's so rude that when we want something they refuse to pay. It's really not fair that some people get to have the exact same diagnosis paid for and others don't just because of age.

So I called the insurance company again and asked it they could explain how this two to six year old rule works. She said that once you are diagnosed, if you are above the age of six they will deny the claim. But you have the right to appeal if you want. You can then write a letter telling them why you think you deserve to get help with your claim and they will review it. She said that they would most likely deny you again but if they do choose to cover it they will cover the diagnosis 100%. I then asked what would happen if I wrote the letter before being diagnosed. My reason was that whether I write the letter before or after it does not change the outcome of the diagnosis nor does it change my reasoning for wanting help to pay for it. She said that if you sent it after as an appeal once you have been stuck with the $2000.00 bill or however much it is, they will review your letter more closely than if you had sent it before getting a diagnosis but either way there is no guarantee that they will pay anything. So basically if you were born before a certain date or if you are female and your symptoms did not really present until you were older than six years old, you have to beg and prove to them why you are worthy and deserving of help with payment when the rest of the population just by virtue of age gets it 100% paid for without question.

I'm wondering if you're so good in equestrian-type things that you could make the regular Olympics? Who knows?

Kraftie that is very sweet and I really appreciate your support. But I am not that good at any of the sports I do. And even though you can compete in equestrian even of you are 110 years old, I am probably too old to start becoming a world class athlete at that level. Telling me that I could complete in a regular Olympic event would be like telling someone who just had a few flight lessons in a two seater Cessna that he could lead a squadron of fighter jets into a dogfight air battle. But I thank you for the kind thought!

I understand what you are saying. There was an inkling, though, that since you were an instructor, that you might have that sort of experience in sports.

Well you know what they say. "Those who can't do teach!" No offense Kraftie, I just could not resist that response since the door was wide open for it! :p

Truth is that I am proficient enough especially in technique to teach beginner and lower intermediate levels in skiing and I am technically knowledgeable in swimming to teach very good technique. I am also a decent horse rider but more on the intermediate level. So yes, I can and have taught but I am not skilled enough to compete. And I have never really competed. I was on a swim team once and on a competitive Tae Kwon Do team in high school and I did fairly well there but even though I focus on technique and that is what I love, no matter how good I get I will never be fast. I just don't have the muscles of a fast person. So even at my fastest I am still one of the slower ones. So I will never be able to be competitive at skills that require a factor of speed. I guess Equestrian is a little different since the horse does most of the work but to be an Olympic level rider you really need Olympic level horses and training and that does not come cheap. The horses I ride are rescues and retired police mounts. I also don't have a lot of riding under my belt as far as time on a horse. I rode for two years regularly taking lessons when I was twelve and thirteen but I had not ridden since then until now. Of course I retained my skills but I am no where near good enough to be a competitor except at the lowest levels.

I could participate in NT recreational competitions since they have them at every skill level but one thing I have to be careful of is the noise level at events. They tend to play music at some of these events that prevent me from even entering the venue. And I get tired and worn out easily from all the activity. I was hoping that SO would be more low key as far as sensory stimuli goes.

LOL Right back atcha!

Seriously: Of course I understand what you're saying. However, you do lots of great things. I'm sure the horses really love you! Here's a nice, hearty "neigh whinny"for you!

I'm sorry you don't like the music during those events; I just drown it out, really. When I used to run, I could care less about the outside atmosphere, anyway. I ran according to my own metronome (the sounds of my stride and my breath interlaced with each other).

The horses are awesome. They are really magnificent and they have the best personalities.

Yeah, the music can be hard for me. Part of it is that I have Misophonia and the boom boom of bass is one of my trigger sounds. Also if there is music like rap or hip hop or even some Bach pieces, sorry JSBachLover, the music is too fast paced for me and it I find that I can't breathe and my heart races. If I don't get away from it or keep my ears tightly shut by sticking my fingers in my ears I get really messed up. I even blacked out once at the wheel while I was stopped at a red light because someone behind me was playing bass on his stereo so loudly and I could not get away from it. I get nauseous from it too. I told someone that story once and his response was, "Maybe you shouldn't be allowed to drive." ??????! !! ! Really? Seriously? How about maybe people should not be allowed to play their music so loudly that they make other people pass out. Oh right, and it is against the law too. I know because I have called more than once and complained about the noise in our area. It is totally against the law but no one seems to be able to enforce it. But some of the music at these events is way too much for me to endure. A Misophonic cannot block out a trigger sound, it is nearly impossible. And what these fast paced musics do to me is not something that I can block out either. My body reacts involuntarily and the only way to fix it is to not be there or seal my ears shut until it is over. I have even held up traffic with my fingers in my ears until the obnoxiously loud driver drives by. But I can't care about holding up traffic and if they give me a ticket for that I will contest it every time.