My new theory on self diagnosed autistics

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Of course not I would argue if I ever for some odd reason got a finger amputated it would cost me more here in the U.S than in Canada.

As for my statement my experience thus far at gathering information and reading threads about many experiences from people who identify as self diagnosised but they seem to mostly come from Canada or the UK and typically have correlating experiences of being given the run around. Going to one therapist and that therapist saying 'I think you have' but never really diagnosing.

Another strange event is the waiting as most of the people who warn people on getting diagnosised are people from them countries who speak about the run around and also to long wait to see a person who can diagnosis you and how expensive it would be going about it yourself.




Fair point in fact if I remember right exhibiting under the DSM-IV exhibiting all signs well testing can be marked as a fail

The US is a whole different ball of wax when it comes to diagnosing adult people with relatively high-functioning autism.

If I were to seek an assessment now, it would not be covered under my insurance (which is GHI and Blue Cross/BlueShield). I would be asked for, at the very least, $500 up front.

It's just not worth the expense, unless you need some official documentation for accommodations or whatever.

I haven't been officially diagnosed yet (even though a psychologist told me I show autistic traits). I am perceived as weird by people and it's no fun. Nobody gives me special treatment. It's blatantly obvious in real life that I'm not like everybody else. I was bullied and people make fun of me for being the way I am.
The only reason I want an official diagnosis is because MAYBE it would stop people or at least family just telling me I am weird or just lazy. It would help us all have an answer. It would help me say "Look, I'm real, I have real issues I'm not just lazy or weird or shy".
And still, no one would treat me in a special way. No one does. I get called weird all the time. No fun.

Blue Cross Blue Shield here as well and all I had to do was pay my co-pay and that was it. I know some people make this mistake but did you walk into any psychologists office? If the office you walk into is not in network than chances are it will be expensive as your paying in full.

If your card on front there should be a phone number to your GROUP if your unsure of who I mean call the number on your back and ask for the number for mental health referrals.

Once you call the group either they or a company they contract out will give you a couple of different numbers of psychologists on request that are in network.

As long as you stay in network you should be fine.

I mean if I get a new insurance my own family doctor doesn't accept yeah he will see me but they're won't be a co-pay as he doesn't accept the new insurance so you gotta pay in full as an example.

I've seen this a lot people who have insurance sometimes look for specific doctors on their own without getting the proper authorization or referral first. Sometimes people get a referral but assume that means you can go see anyone. Most people do not know or understand you have to check if your doctor is in network.

Sometimes you have really crappy doctors who try to take money from the insurance company and want you to pay in full. If your calling an in network Doctor always discuss and ask if your testing and treatment will fall under your insurances co pay. If not move onto the next doctor on your list.

Also if you need any help doing this feel free to msg me. In the real world I am a disability advocate



Nicola you would be surprised to learn sadly it does not matter to some families who already have a formed opinion. Getting diagnosised to try to get your family to understand you better can work for you in the case of myself and others it might seem like others your trying to make excuses.

My clinical psychologist warned me immediately after getting diagnosised not to run out and tell my employers as it would seem I am 'making excuses' for myself and to make a plan with my regular psychologist on how to broach the subject.

I bombarded my family with information with autism and me and they fell into a pattern in which they either did not believe the diagnosis or they thought I was making excuses for autism. There are articles out there that a diagnosis helped save marriages yeah but you definitely want a battle plan on how you come out after being diagnosised.

Apologies for diverging from the topic (as sorry, I don't see it as worthwhile considering with depth) but I'm curious as to the motivations for raising this topic at all. You're not asking for advice or input from others, or sharing an experience other people could relate to / attempting to relate with others, passing on useful information, or any of the understandable motivations for topics seen on these forums. Perhaps you're just purely venting your frustration? I could't say rightly, but you may benefit from examining your motivations here and deciding for yourself if they require adjustment.

That's pretty nifty that you're a disability advocate. I would bet that you could be of considerable assistance here, actually.

I do understand that there are some people who would make use of the "autism" card in order to continue to live a lazy existence. The potential for abuse in this sense is high.

But Asperger's (Yes, not on the DSM V), is a such a subtle disorder at times--to the point where it would owe it to the "sufferer" not to make snap judgments as to their ability to function in the outer society--especially as to the acquisition and maintenance of employment.

I'm been employed steadily for 35 years. I'm fortunate that I am very skillful in what I do--otherwise, I would have been fired long ago for my quirkiness.

I'm not one who believes one should go on something like SSI or SSDI on a whim--I happen not to believe in people going on it in most cases--but I also believe that there are more people than meets the eyes who just might benefit from SSI/SSDI (at least temporarily).

Hello, I was diagnosed last month. I did start out as a self-diagnoser. I am in the US, and have Kaiser Permanente. I spoke to my psychiatrist about getting tested. She initially said that there was no test for adults and that if there was, Kaiser wouldn't cover it. I found a university that did testing, for $2,000. Other places I talked to were about the same cost. I could see why a lot of people in the US would not go farther than a self-diagnosis for this reason. I wasn't sure if I would be able to get that much benefit for the cost. I did a lot more research (over several months), and managed to find that Kaiser did have psychologists that could administer the test, and that it WAS covered. So I got tested, and got diagnosed. Coverage varies from plan to plan, and some may not cover it, even though the Healthcare Parity supposedly means that adults should be able to get the same treatment as children. This hasn't been tested in court, to my knowledge, so most states don't have it as a requirement.

Also, in response to the original post, I don't see how an ASD diagnosis is "trendy." There is a certain trendiness in movies and TV shows showing the Asperger genius, but really, the stories I see in WP indicate that going public can be a real burden. People are accused of faking it by their families, and denied employment, even though this is illegal. If the purpose is to fit in at places like WP, it's unnecessary. I've seen people be pretty welcoming of NTs, and there are easier groups to fit into, since I don't think we really gravitate to groups by nature. I am still trying to imagine what a "pack of Aspies" would look like.

To add to this comment, I find it ironic how I need a parental interview to be formally diagnosed because she (psychologist) apparently doesn't trust my memory but she WILL trust my parents who flat out told me psychologists are a bunch of scam artists and that I 100% do not have it a made up disease.

Don't even get me started on the severe and permanent damage Doctor mistakes (usually due to arrogance) have made to my family.....

Well you know if you ever need a temporary advocate to navigate around the phone with your insurance to price match or even find places in network as long as your in the US I'll happily help just send me a msg and we can work out a day and time and make some calls together.

Funny thing though since you mentioned aspergers no longer being a diagnosis many psychologists still diagnosis it under the DSM-IV as most insurance companies have not yet caught up to the DSM-V. I know some other people here and else were spoke about this strange occurrence but not to worry if your diagnosised with Aspergers under the DSM-IV according to the CDC your automatically upgraded to Autism Spectrum Disorder under the DSM-V

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/hcp-dsm.html

As you may or may have not heard even if you are diagnosised with ASD it doesn't mean you'll automatically get SSDI due to the fact you most likely make to much money. I believe th criteria is that you have to make under $1100.00 to even bother applying.

It's different for everyone just like a person who has a tongue tie all his life his or her brain now has a certain way of talking to where even if you get your tongue tie removed you'll still talk like your tongue tie even though your tongue is now free. As the old saying goes it's hard teaching an old dog new tricks but you can learn new activities to help reduce your stress and add it into your order on how you go about life.

I, myself, wouldn't apply for disability at this point--but there probably are Aspergians who are having great difficulty with everyday life--and who just might need SSDI/SSI because of extreme difficulty related to obtaining/maintaining employment. They are many who are not "faking it."

I am fortunate in being able to keep a job for so long.

Last edited by kraftiekortie on 02 Oct 2015, 1:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Here we go again, the at-least-biweekly dragging out of the umpteenth "why self-DXd people are full of s**t*/dangerous/neurotic/deciding they're autistic based on one paragraph on Wikipedia/just crying poverty when they balk at paying X thousand of dollars for a DX/nowhere NEAR a autistic a *I* am/pretending to be autistic and THAT'S JUST NOT FAIR/probably actually pychopathic/insert_accusation_here" theory.

Ironically, those posting these theories are doing exactly what they're condemning in the self-DXd: grasping at bits and pieces of unproven science in order to insist their idea must have merit.

Like herpes, Donald Trump and post-apocalyptic zombies, these threads just...keep...coming...back.

Ah well, I suppose it wouldn't be a day with a Y in it without a "people just WANT to be autistic!" bizarro thread.

I do too...it's the whole "I'm sicker than you, don't you DARE be as sick a me...I'm going to prove I'm the MOST autistic and you're just full of it" need for attention thing...I just don't usually espouse it on here as I don't have the scientific, repeatable in a controlled setting backup to make it worthy of further introspection.

Unfortunately, not all apply that general rule.



When my son's neuropsych gently asked me if I'd ever been diagnosed autistic and gave me information on how I could go about the process of becoming diagnosed, I discovered, after many back-and-forth phone calls to my insurance company, that my assessment would fall between $800 and $1000, cash. The assessment might or might not require follow-up doctor visits and assessments, none of which would be covered.

Therefore, when a second psych - this time, my other son's psychiatrist, through whom we were going as an ADHD DX must go under psychiatry per my insurance company - asked me out of the blue during our intake interview about my son, not me, whether I had ever been DXd with autism, I had a quick de ja vu, then explained I had already looked into it. He told me, "Honestly, there isn't much in the way of therapies for adults diagnosed with autism anyway, unless you're talking things like assisted communication devices, which you (I) obviously don't need."

Last edited by NowhereWoman on 02 Oct 2015, 2:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.

And don't forget: there are many people on the Spectrum who are able to make a living just fine. They make adjustments. Their symptoms might not be as severe as some others. But they are still autistic and Aspergian.

I'm not making a political statement at all. I'm not into the political aspects, really.

I'm into people doing the best they can with what they got.

This kind of thread keeps coming up again and again. My feelings on this topic are simple:

1. Not all self-diagnosed people are the same, so it's illogical to generalize.
Some people who self-diagnose are actually on the spectrum, some aren't. However, the people on these forums are either not qualified or do not have enough information to make a diagnosis. So we should all really stop trying.

2. All diagnosed people were once undiagnosed people.
Be kind to others. That person you say is a "poser" could be someone just like you, back in that awful part of life when you didn't know why you were different.

These are good points.
It is best after diagnosis not to bombard family and friends or anyone else with autism autism autism, most people on the receiving end won't understand and there may be backlash.
I think the best thing is not to make a big deal out of it but eggsplain a few things to close people for improved understanding/communication over time.

I got Dxd in Miami in 2001. The price ranged between 350 and 800 bucks in the area. I thought it was important to know because of a lifetime of not fitting in. I haven't worked much since then. Little bits here and there. I wondered if the aspie forums attract non aspies and I have pm'd a couple of people who I felt were not aspie. One was a transexual and one was homosexual. They just felt different and wanted to talk to others that might understand.
I have pm'd a couple of other people who I thought were aspie and they said straightaway that they weren't. They did have mental issues but I cannot remember what.