My doctor ordered me a pack of forms and questionnaires to request an assessment for adult autism. In amongst the medical histories and self assessments, this question stuck out;
it is important to know that not everyone who is referred to our service will have a diagnosis of autism confirmed. In the space below, tell us how you think having an autism diagnosis confirmed, or not, might impact on you and your life
What’s going on here? Do you get asked this for other conditions? We’re a community that typically struggles to read between the lines, so I could be way off, but this feels grudging to me. It’s a question that says - what’s the point of us even offering this service, and why are you so special that we should waste our time on you?
It might be a question of priority, like do you need an official diagnosis to get accommodations at school/work or do you “just” want to know for sure.
Also, it’ll make you think about why you’re requesting the assessment and in what way it’ll change your life. Like, in my case having an official diagnosis wouldn’t change anything, therapy options are designed to make a person useful for the workforce, I am a housewife so it wouldn’t help me much. So I’d rather have them use their service for people who actually have a need for their service.
Alternate question: what impact did your diagnosis, confirmed or otherwise, have on your life?
It confirmed what I had long suspected, and gave me more language to describe the challenges I face
Yeah words are tools for thinking and they’re so valuable, in a way that’s hard to quantify to other people. In my current situation of self-suspecting, it’s like I’ve been shown the tools, but I have to use them sneakily because I haven’t been given permission.
Yes. Nullifying imposter syndrome was another important outcome of my diagnosis.
which is, in other words, nullifying subconscious gaslighting into thinking that you’re just not trying hard enough.
This might be a “hey if you think getting an actual diagnosis is going to cause problems let us know so we don’t do that”.
Ooh good thought. Like employment / legal / child custody type problems. That would make me a lot happier with the question (and mad that it’s necessary)
Could also have the other side of the problem. Some people can expect a diagnosis to completely solve everything in their lives. People may have unrealistic expectation towards their diagnosis. In that case it could also help the doctor calm down those expectation before giving the diagnosis in order to not hurt them too much.
