Called for information - This is the returned call..

Post Reply New Topic

Hi,

I have just recently gotten to the point where I need to know if I have AS.
For me this also means I am just letting some people know how much I have tried to hide/act for years, and that I think this is me.
One of the main reasons for 'hidding' is because of some peoples words/actions.

I worked up the courage and called an Autistic centre where I live today and while I was in the middle of posting here (different thread)
they returned my call. I was wanting information about assessments, wait times and if there was only select proffessionals in the area that can do the assessments.

This is the return call.

Me - "hello?'
them 'I am returning your call from blank centre, you wanted some info?'
me 'yes thank you. I am wondering if there is select proffessionals that can do the assessment in town, or if others can do it'
them ' well if it was my child I would want someone that had done it many times'
me ' it is not for a child, it is for me'
them ' well we have a list on our website, but you could go to others if they do it'
me ' How long is the wait time?'

them ' it is at least 8 months'
me ' wow that long?

them ' yes, we are having an outbreak here. This shows its environmental, not just genetic. A cure needs to be found soon.

Stunned silence.. felt like forever, but probably not
me 'ok bye'
I hung-up before I lost it.
I have been vibrating since that call, is this a NORMAL thing for someone calling back to say?

Am I going to have to get used to 'professional help/responses' like that when asking about AS?
I am used to people calling me odd, weird and other things, those I am ok with.
I expect to be called other things for the rest of my life, by non-professionals.
I know how to handle and respond to non-professionals when they are rude, it may not be the correct way, but it is my way.
I am even kind of used to some people saying some things I think are completely asinine.
For some people, I have come to expect them to say something asinine. They probably feel the same about me.

But how do I deal with comments like that, coming from a place where there should be, well.. not something like that said.
I do not know how to respond to comments like that from a 'professional' or someone that works in a professional setting.
But those comments were not even asinine, they were (Please insert trucker mouth here) and that person was a (insert unpleasant female names here)..

And people wonder why I say I hate humans generally..

I would love some suggestions/comments.. please

WTF?!?

An "outbreak"?!? And this is coming from a help center?

I don't blame you for what you wanted to say. I would have felt the same way. Hell, I feel that way now!

Just because people have the label of "professional" anything, doesn't mean that they actually are.

Jerk***s.

Don't think much of it. The person who called you was not a health professional. Just someone paid to answer the phones at an office. It speaks volumes of one's competence if their one skill in life is answering the phone.

Call back and ask to speak to a professional, or set up an appointment.

We already knew the public was ill informed. This is but one more example.

If the health professionals there were equally as misinformed, then you'd need to worry.

i actually found the epidemic idea quite funny:/

shes probably just some random receptionist hired to do all the administrative tasks, like returning calls

That because people mistake increase in awareness, thus increase in diagnostic and demand for service with actual proportion increase in population. Thus can start to mix up thing that can be unrelated to the actual situation, for people are emotional, thus prone to be irrational.

Thanks for the responses guys.

I understand that she was just some schmuk doing her job.
But, if that is the first person that makes contact and in a sense
is, or at least in my eyes, representing the company/centre she works for
what are the others like?

No thanks, I will wait and see what my doc suggest.

It wasn't just the 'outbreak' that bothered me. I am called cold, unapproachable and heartless the majority of the time.
I try not to be, but I hope I do not come off like that woman, because that is what I got from her.

But also her 'outbreak', 'environmental' and a 'cure'?
Surely even just people returning calls for a centre would be more informed then that?

I also, happen to love my brain, even if I do not understand many things, including it.
However, I would never trade it for anything - including a 'cure'.

The word alone makes me physically ill. It brings back memories of people saying things like 'I will cure you of that'
'I have a cure for that', 'this should cure you' and many other variants.

Screw that, I highly doubt a 'magic pill', fairy wand or surgery would 'cure' me, because, I would still have to be 'here' living among them
and I don't think it is me that needs the 'cure'

Exactly - this was the response of some dimwit who has no idea what they're talking about. Try calling again, and if possible ask to talk to someone who actually does Autism assesments. Even if you do have to wait eight months, that's not too bad - its better than ending up on a waiting list for two years. At least you're not waiting for a liver transplant.


An epidemic...that is so f*cking funny...guys, we're takin' over, like effin' TRIFFIDS... Look out, NTs...here we come....invading your minds...resistance is futile....






::burp!::

Surya, I had something similar (at least in level of stupidity) occur when I called a doctor on a phone consult. (Basically, the guy said that the fact I was calling him to ask automatically ruled out an ASD. Come on! Like people on the spectrum NEVER communicate!) It freaked me out bad, and I am STILL trying to get the courage to make another call, even though I know that at the least, my auditory processing is bad and I need to get that addressed before I make a critical screwup at work.

I think I may try to see if I can find a disguised way to ask some family friends whose son is autistic who they would recommend in my area. (I THINK I can ask them without their telling my parents...we'll have to see.) I don't know that this would necessarily yield a solid recommendation, but it might at least get me a longer list of names than what I have, and I know this might sound stupid, but I'm hoping that since they're decent people, they'll have a "radar" for decent people...?

i would off hung up as well after the outbreak comment

Imagine getting this response if you called the optometrist.

"Hello, is this ##### Opto?"

"Yes, how can we help you?"

"I'd like to make an appointment."

"Well, your child will have to weight a couple months..."

"No, it's for me. And why the long wait?"

"We're having an outbreak of poor vision - many people have been reading in poor lighting. We need to find an effective surgical fix soon..."


Also reminds me of this:

IOTM also that some of us may be encountering the Autie Politics, e.g., the presumption that an adult is calling with regard to their child instead of no presumption at all; the axes to grind about environmental causes and indiscriminate cures; even a doc maybe trying to discourage what many people think is a new fad (as if childhood and even adult societal TORTURE is something anybody would freely want).

I did HIV/AIDS work for a couple years in the ' 90s, and I think your callback may have been from a volunteer, maybe even a well-meaning mother/aunt of an Autie/Aspie, NOT PROFESSIONAL AT ALL. She wouldn't have been allowed on the I&R phones at my major AIDS employer without quite a bit more training in just that, professionalism.

If you kick around this subject on the WWW before too long, you'll encounter the 'more radical than thou' fragmentations among adults on the Spectrum, among parents who consider themselves the patient/victim here ("Why did Autism happen to ME?! !"--They say just that; I am not making this up.), among cure-chasers (mostly also parents ISTM...), among Autism conspiracy theorists, etc. It reminds me of the political fragmentation among all the flavors of Marxists/Marxians, tiny Church denominations, and American Indian scholars/activists (I'm part American Indian ... and religious ... and left-wing!!) ... groups anyone else would assume within each category should stick together, but split off over stupid crap (in the eyes of anyone else at least!), "divide-and-conquer."

(BTW, by putting it this way, I don't mean to put down any of those mentioned, just to alert readers who may not realize what they're encountering when they first read or hear them.)

A local "Outbreak." Silicon Valley perhaps?!?!?!

Kind of reminds me of Europe in the 1500's-1600's when all of the factions of Christianity were constantly fighting each other. Being a Lutheran in a Catholic-controlled area could get you into a LOT of trouble.

Sorry, off-topic. Okay, maybe she was just a volunteer, but still--what a thing to have to hear when calling for assistance. Blarg.

Yeah...I don't think these people realize JUST what an impact they have when they say stuff like that.