Is it beneficial to get a diagnosis?

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Hello all. Can someone tell me if there would be any negative repercussions in getting an official diagnosis? I thought I'd read somewhere that it could cause a person to lose their job or to find work in the future. Also that it could interfere with getting medical insurance or raise the cost of it. Are there any benefits to having a diagnosis? Thanks.

Well, you can't really know if you actually have something without getting a proper diagnosis, can you?

I don't know about 'Murica, but over here being diagnosed got me a ton of new rights...

It was beneficial to me to get an official diagnosis.

One of the things from Obamacare was the increased cost of insurance isn't an issue anymore. It used to be an issue, but in 2014 it stops being an issue. (At least, that's to the best of my not understand politics very well knowledge).

It was beneficial to me because a 30+ year career had pretty much crumbled out from under me due to new technologies and changes in the industry/marketplace and when I tried to retrain for a new career, I ran up against a wall of ignorance and discrimination.

The diagnosis did not help with the discrimination, but the DX, combined with my age, put me in a category that allowed me to qualify for Disability, else I would have ended up homeless.

I have seen remarks here that it can affect your ability to get a job, but I don't think it would have made any difference for me, since my career was in a business that required me to spend my days in a closed room alone, talking to myself. There were occasional parts of the job that were very difficult and traumatic for me that I would probably have been exempted from if I had been diagnosed at the time.

I worked with a couple of officially disabled people several times over the years and they were treated with kid gloves unless they did something outrageous (which one of them repeatedly did, but he had a bad attitude in general). The other was more reliable and management actually cut him a lot of slack and made generous allowances for his disability. Of course, both of those individuals were on full Disability, so they didn't have to work full time.

OTOH, the "news" media often loves to associate AS with violent crimes, which leaves some people with a wildly inaccurate impression and might make them afraid of you.

Firstly, I live in Australia so I'm speaking from that perspective.

I think that if you need a diagnosis then you should get one, but if you don't need it then don't. Really as an adult the only reason you would need a diagnosis is if you are so dysfunctional that you need it to qualify for services, benefits or support. In Australia, just being AS will not qualify for anything, you're assessed on function, not a diagnosis.

If you're having difficulty in certain areas, then treating them individually is probably the better way to go. Diagnosis is easier for children because it gives them access to services, and schools etc. to funding for them. They cater more for children to give them a better start so they may avoid the pitfalls later, as a preventative. From 16 years these cease to be relevant.

Doctors vary from one to the next, but most good doctors wont give you a diagnosis unless they believe it is medically necessary. Not because you don't present the features, just because you don't need it. They would be more inclined to treat the individual areas of difficulty for at least 2 years without success before considering it, and then may not if they don't think there would be a benefit. Under medical terms, you can have 2 heads, 6 arms and 10 legs. If you were born that way then that's fine. It's only if it's a problem that matters.

If you want it so you can be officially in the club so to speak. I can understand that there is some validation there, but the truth is there is no club. A diagnosis will general just confirm others' biases, not change them. If you can't see the “monkey tree”, when you say something everyone stares at you with their mouths open, you constantly get accused of things you didn't do, and constantly get into trouble for doing exactly what you were told to do, now you know why. You don't need someone's approval. Being born was your certification.

The diagnosis didn't affect me much. Of course I didn't tell many people either. I was only hoping for some understanding, and the only person who did anything is mother-in-law, she read a whole book about Asperger's. That sets her apart from all the ignorant people who just assume things or dismiss what they don't understand. I'm very grateful.

I'm a stay-at-home mom right now, so no work or school issues. I think if I ever go back to school I might be able to use it to help me with some learning adaptations.

Thank you for all of your replies! My biggest worry would be having people being afraid of me. There is one woman at work who is a bit young and immature and I feel she thinks I'm some sort of monster. If she knew I had Asperger's on top of it, she'd probably shrivel up in a corner and never go near my office. I used to work in a lab where people were quiet and did their work, not gossiping and socializing as they do in administration, where I work now but in the same company. Talk about culture shock. I'm not well liked because I come in to work and I don't chime in with the office politics, backstabbing, boss butt kissing, etc. So I pretty much get dumped on.
I sure could use some therapy in learning office politics and bs'ing in the office setting. Fitting in on a social level is unfortunately the way to raises and promotions in this world, not hard work and dedication.

My experience is that it can open up some services, but these are very patchy.

The problem arises is there is a function problem and a separate mental health issue. In this case my experience suggests that different agencies will try to foist you off as someone else's problem.

There may be other issues too, and the difficulties I've experienced may not apply where you are.

I wouldn't tell most people, it would be only close family and friends. Others will probably just use it to treat you badly.

I drove semi-trailers for a living. It's a solitary occupation. The culture is less sophisticated, and those two little words that mean so much are acceptable. I worked in an office decades ago for a short time but couldn't handle it. I've come to understand what people do, but it's more as an observation. In situation it's hard to keep up. It can be exhausting because playing the monkey game is three times the work than just doing your job. I've generally just relied on intimidation rather than try and play their way, but that doesn't work everywhere.

I don't really know if there is an easy answer to it. Maybe, as you said about the lab, a job that relies more on your strengths and less on your weaknesses might be more the go.

One thing I have noticed. In jobs where skills are needed they tent to focus more on your ability with your skills. In jobs that anyone could do, they tend to rely more on backstabbing and sucking up because that's the only way of working out who gets what.

yes theres a lot. In fact I hated having Aspergers in my early to mid teens. I coudn't see why some people were proud of their diagnoses or were looking to be diagnosed. Aspergers caused me a lot of pain during my 8th grade year, and because of it, I changed a lot and became more introverted after my 8th grade year. I was diagnosed at 8 but I wish I would have been diagnosed in my late teens so I could have handled it.


For one thing, I felt like no one would like me if I was autistic. I woudn't tell any girls I like I had Aspergers for they would just look at me as some sort of disabled person. Also I felt like many people thought autism was something negative in society that needed to be cured. The public view of autism is just a bunch of low-functioning individuals. For me autism was a bad word. It was synonymous with failure.

All other things aside, knowing for a fact that you are an Aspie does carry the unequaled advantage of truly understanding oneself for the first time in your life instead of living a life of self doubt in which you are only labeled as some different kind of freak from others. For me it was an overwhelming awakening 3 1/2 years ago and I only wish I had known the truth decades ago.

I have always been individualist and knew myself exceptionally well for not knowing what Aspergers is. Pursued computer programming, small companies, geeky music like Devo, listened to a radio station whose moniker was "Dare to Be Different" accepted and was contented with lack of relationships that would drive most crazy. The diagnoses process has shown me as well as I knew myself I knew s--t. Had no idea how all encompassing a part of my life this is. Before I had personality traits now it's an identity. As illogical as it is I needed the validation from from a experienced specialist otherwise there would always be corrosive doubt.

But that is now, for a better idea come back in 5 years and ask me how it balanced out.

I remember WDRE!

It has had neither positive nor negative aspects for me.