PLEASE ANSWER!: Official diagnosis from ASD specialist

Post Reply New Topic

Sorry Waterfalls, my mistake. I missed that restriction too. I must have read the original post too quickly.

If you were to stick entirely to the restrictions, the response would be:

Yes, it's official.
The reservations you list are irrelevant.

I had a few doubts when I was finally diagnosed last week after years and years of waiting for an appropriate team to turn up in my area.
I had already seen a few psychiatrists over the last few years and raised my suspicions with them. The most recent agreed with me enough that he referred me to a professional in the area who I saw on Friday.

I had expected there to be an initial meeting, followed by numerous tests such as IQ, eyes test etc etc but instead, I just had to fill in the AQ and another test relating to autism and within 30 minutes of questions about my younger years, most specifically social issues and empathy etc, as well as eye contact issues, he was absolutely certain of his diagnosis. When I told him he had not even asked about special interests, he told me he did not need to as he was sure just from observing me and from my responses to the questions he had asked so far, alongside, I suppose, the fact the psych who referred me had been sure as well.

His diagnosis, even with the changes in the system, is Asperger's Syndrome. I am in the Uk and female.

Congratulations Graelwyn. The psychologist who diagnosed me, I also got my results this past Wednesday, told me it was extremely obvious from the first moment he saw me. I was also told that my the first person who ever noticed ASD in me almost three years ago. Many people in the past had noticed strangeness or oddness in me but these two people who actually know how to look saw the ASD right away before I even had a first interview or test. I think there are traits that we are not even aware of that they can see. When the person who first told me wrote a letter for me to give to the diagnostic psychologist, he mentioned things that I had never been aware that I was doing.

Thank you everybody for your responses, all of which helped me to view my diagnosis rationally. I am grateful to have received a lot of wisdom and insight.

I will accept that I have Aspergers Syndrome.
I can understand that a lot of the reservations I had about it are not relevant.
Nobody has ever disputed my diagnosis, and people seem to be more aware and accepting of it than I am.

Now I will continue to take one step at a time.
Life is a challenge but I really want to make great changes in my life.

That sounds great Phoenix Rising. It sounds like that is a good plan and it should give you some peace of mind and help you move forward in whatever will help you now that you have the diagnosis.

I think what surprises me most, is that while it was obvious to him, who had never met me before, within such a short space of time, my parents have never picked up on it.
I mentioned this to the specialist, how I was often criticised for things which are common traits of AS, and yet my parents did not consider me to have Aspergers, especially my mum who said I was 'perfectly normal' as a child. Yet, she reminded me of times such as the occasion when she had been in hospital, and returned when I was around 8 years old. My brother ran over to hug her and myself, I apparently just said 'Oh, you're back'. Such anecdotes left me feeling really bad about myself for not having reacted in the same warm and familiar way my brother had.

And, you will! Wanting to do so is half the work.

Good luck!

I was the same way. My entire family was 100% clueless. That it why it took me almost a half century to get diagnosed. My parents would discipline me for Aspie or Misophonic things because they just thought I was behaving badly, But that is understandable because they did not know anything about those conditions at all and I am very high functioning so they never suspected anything. When I was weird they just disciplined me.