Hello from NYC
Hi! When did you leave the NYC area? (Your profile says Santa Cruz, which I assume is where you live now? My boyfriend's Dad lives in Santa Cruz.)
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- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,419
Location: Long Island, New York
Glad to read things are moving along.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
I finally had the feedback appointment yesterday.
I was told that I definitely qualify for a diagnosis of ASD. In general there were no big surprises in what I was finally told.
But throughout the whole long testing/evaluation process, because I have not had psychotherapy in the past, I experienced a lot of what I think of as psychotherapy-world culture shock. Throughout the whole long testing/evaluation process, I encountered a lot of things that seemed utterly weird to me, but then my boyfriend, who has had a lot of past experience as a psychotherapy client, assured me that those things are perfectly normal in the psychotherapy world.
For example, my most recent experience of psychotherapy-world culture shock was how, at the feedback appointment, the therapist refused to tell me the diagnosis at the beginning of the appointment, but instead insisted on diving into the details of various tests before telling me her final conclusions. When I got home, my boyfriend told me that that's normal.
Anyhow, it's a huge relief to have the final confirmation of something that I've suspected for about ten years and that I've been almost certain of for nearly a year after reading a lot of websites and blogs about autism.
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
ASPartOfMe
Veteran
Joined: 25 Aug 2013
Age: 66
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,419
Location: Long Island, New York
I was told that I definitely qualify for a diagnosis of ASD. In general there were no big surprises in what I was finally told.
But throughout the whole long testing/evaluation process, because I have not had psychotherapy in the past, I experienced a lot of what I think of as psychotherapy-world culture shock. Throughout the whole long testing/evaluation process, I encountered a lot of things that seemed utterly weird to me, but then my boyfriend, who has had a lot of past experience as a psychotherapy client, assured me that those things are perfectly normal in the psychotherapy world.
For example, my most recent experience of psychotherapy-world culture shock was how, at the feedback appointment, the therapist refused to tell me the diagnosis at the beginning of the appointment, but instead insisted on diving into the details of various tests before telling me her final conclusions. When I got home, my boyfriend told me that that's normal.
Anyhow, it's a huge relief to have the final confirmation of something that I've suspected for about ten years and that I've been almost certain of for nearly a year after reading a lot of websites and blogs about autism.
Congratulations.
My results day went like this
1. Some more questions about why I did and did not do certain things in my life.
2. Test results
3. She asked me for some reasons why I don’t think I am Autistic and then talked about coping mechanisms.
4. Said “I have no problem diagnosing you with Aspergers”. That a clinician with over 30 years experience said it in that way was and has been a great help in avoiding the feeling that the diagnoses was wrong and that I was a lazy bum who faked myself and the clinition out, a feeling that many members have expressed over the years.
_________________
Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
It is Autism Acceptance Month
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
New here. I'm very glad that this forum exists. I'm glad to see an independent web forum -- much better than, say, a Facebook group. (Too many autism-related groups seem to rely too much on Facebook groups, alas.)
I have a longterm boyfriend who was diagnosed with what was then called Asperger's Syndrome back in 2001. Both of us feel that I'm at least as autistic as he is in some ways. I'm finally getting around to seeking a diagnosis.
We do programming work from home. Alas, this doesn't earn us anywhere near as much money as can be made by a programmer who works in a corporate office. But, for various reasons, we both feel that we are not capable of working in the latter setting.
I have a strong interest in the history and development of various subcultures such as the LGBT community. Based on my knowledge of this history, I have high hopes for the neurodiversity movement.
Congrats on your new diagnosis! I know how important the late diagnosis is for older adult aspies.
auntblabby
Veteran
Joined: 12 Feb 2010
Gender: Male
Posts: 113,699
Location: the island of defective toy santas
Given my experiences in the LGBT community and various other subcultures, I have a lot of ideas on how to build the autistic community and make it much more useful, in many more ways, than it is now. See the separate thread Building the autistic community?, especially page 2 of that thread. (See also the threads Autistic-friendly workplaces and Autistic-friendly social skills vs. blending in with NT's.)
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- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
Next year I hope to create a website which will make it easier for people in the autistic community to organize local peer support groups, e.g. the website will provide chatrooms and announcement email lists.
I'm not ready to do this yet, but, in the meantime, I've decided to create a simple Wordpress.com blog, starting with a post about My life as one of the many belatedly-diagnosed autistic older people. Soon I'll be adding pages with lists of already-existing NYC-area resources, and then I'll add pages about my hopes for what the autistic community can eventually become.
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- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
I've decided to change my signature. I've also decided to preserve my old signature here:
- In longterm relationship with boyfriend who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in 2001.
- Long history of participation in various oddball subcultures.
- My "Getting to know each other" thread: Hello from NYC.
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- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)
Changing my signature again (in just a few minutes from now), and preserving the old one here:
- My WP Regional Meetup & Networking Thread Index post, August 2019.
- My WP "Getting to know each other" thread: Hello from NYC, begun October 2018.
_________________
- Autistic in NYC - Resources and new ideas for the autistic adult community in the New York City metro area.
- Autistic peer-led groups (via text-based chat, currently) led or facilitated by members of the Autistic Peer Leadership Group.
- My Twitter / "X" (new as of 2021)