Counseling question

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Hey all, I haven't posted very much (holidays are super stressful!) but I have a question and I was hoping to get some feedback. I have diagnoses of ASD, inattentive-type ADHD (what used to be called just ADD), and a stutter. The agency I get medication treatment and counseling from has shut me down when I've said I needed the option to write rather than speak verbally in sessions. Sometimes speech is just impossible, but they don't seem to understand that. I don't have the ability to look for a new provider for several reasons. Anyone have any ideas for anything I could do? Is this potentially an ADA issue? We autists are a super creative bunch, any ideas for tackling this problem another way? I'm an adult in my 30s, diagnosed fairly recently. TIA for any ideas!

keep a log, a diary, a recorded record of some form, naming dates, times, who was present when this happens. especially if you have witnesses or written communication regarding this issue. Save all written emails, letters, texts, etc.
Documentation is needed to follow up with legal action if needed. Consult a lawyer whose specialty is disability issues and see if you can get one who will work for free in exchange for any financial settlement. Best wishes.

If you don't want to talk, don't try. Establish writing as your only portal for communication. If you get trouble, insist on receiving writing too. Maybe have some pre-printed cards to hand out instantly, and offer something to write with.

It doesn't sound like they are very good at their job! It's a shame finding someone else isn't an option.

I once had a roommate who was deaf, a different source of potentially severe communication problems. I found "Magic Slates" to be very useful.

Thank you for the advice and good wishes!

Oh, I remember those from when I was a kid!

Thank you for the advice.

Email counselling services exist, and some are free. A Web search might help you to find what you're looking for. I don't know whether you're after a counsellor with medical qualifications or not. I don't know anything about the quality of free email counselling (and very little about paid-for, come to that). I expect it's luck of the draw, like face-to-face counselling is.

I did a bit of (paid for) email counselling with Relate (UK relationship counselling service). I didn't get much out of it, but I think my estranged wife who also participated in it was rather derailing the process, not deliberately but because she had a lot of communication problems. And some face-to-face sessions we'd had at Relate had been no more useful from a relationship point of view.

By the way, with written counselling there is a privacy / security issue that may be more of a problem than it would be with face-to-face and spoken word. It's unlikely that an in-person counsellor would record the session, but with the written word you're creating a papertrail that's more able to fall into the wrong hands. So you might want to consider what you're likely to divulge and who it is you're thinking of divulging it to.

https://counsellingresource.com/therapy ... itability/

https://www.counselling-directory.org.u ... ounselling

Thanks for the reply, and those are great things to consider. I'm not really worried about a paper trail, honestly, though I think that was at least one of the concerns of my current provider. I'm sorry you didn't feel you got much out of counseling. I know it can be different for everyone.

No problem Often they have an encryption thing for the emails - at the time I thought it was a bit over-the-top, but I suppose strict confidentiality matters to a lot of people. And you can't be too careful.

I've known counsellors who have been helpful as well as those who aren't, so I think it's the luck of the draw. I guess it's easier to terminate counselling with emails, if it's not working. I think in the situation I was in at the time, there wasn't much anybody could have done to help. And the last counsellor I saw (and will probably see again one day) has done some good.

In the U.S. they have to comply with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).