When is a diagnosis helpful?

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Hi everyone,

I took the RAADS-R recently and scored 143. I found an evaluation from my childhood as well, where I was rated very atypical by a G&T teacher. While I'm somehow lonely, I struggle to understand when a diagnosis would actually bring clarity or help in a day to day manner.

I love clarity and concreteness, but I've learned to be fearful of labels and putting myself in a box for others to discount. How can I know what the value of pursuing a label would be for me?

It can be if you would benefit from assistance programs like vocational rehabilitation, etc. Some may also find it helps them understand themselves better.

I found the diagnosis clarified many things about me and gave me I framework with to approach the world.

Why do you want a diagnosis? What do you think it would give you? What answers can you get from it? Does it offer some protection or accommodation? There are many questions you can ask. You can certainly keep the result private for your own use.

Labels are useful as they define an issue and the scope of the issue. As far as stereotyping, that is the box, well, you are going to get labelled whatever you do. I think it is better to be able to control and determine the labels you want to use. Personally, knowing I am autistic is far better than other people labeling me rude.

Diagnoses are for helping disabled people get more or better treatment for their conditions as well as accommodations in work, school, social services, etc. So if you are disabled by an undiagnosed condition and you need or will need or even might need some of those things, and accessing them requires a diagnosis, a diagnosis can help you access that stuff.

I share this sentiment. It was the main thing I gained from my diagnosis. I was 64 when I was diagnosed and it explained so much about the previous 64 years. This was the main benefit for me--not the label but rather the understanding I gained by knowing the label applied to me.


Second benefit I hope for (but have not yet achieved ): Since I now know I fit under the label, I now know with certainty that I experience the world and communicate with it differently than most people. Sure, I increasingly suspected it, but gaining the label made it real. And these differences seem like they should be relevant to the medical care providers I see more and more often (and I mean Primary Care, Cardiology, etc.). So far, however, few of them seem very interested.

If you are interested in this I'll mention I've found: https://aaspire.org and https://autismandhealth.org.


Third benefit: Oooh! A new "special interest"?! (Since you are on WP you might already share this interest. )


Fourth benefit: Some of the quirks I have always had now have pedigrees! And to the informed it should make it easier to explain the quirks and why they persist. Caution: Even though it amuses me, my bride thinks she too often hears: "I have a doctor's note for that!"


P.S. Remember, even if you officially get the label you still have to answer the question: How can I know what the value of sharing the label would be for me?