Hello All! Are you my friends? :)

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I was not sure if I was to just post this directly here. I just wanted to say... Hello All! I am happy this community exists. I hope to find a happy little corner where I can make some friends.

In high school, my special education teacher had a copy of the DSM. I was looking at it out of curiosity. He told me to look myself up. I was not sure what he meant. He flipped to Asperger's syndrome.

Interactions like these make sense to me now. I think originally I was offended in some way before I had a proper understanding.

To my knowledge, my files are lost to time. I have seen a lot of doctors of various types in my youth. For all I know, I already have a diagnosis and no one told me. I am seeing a professional now that I am an "adult". I am interested in finding out. I wish there was a blood test or something. This all looks very complicated and intrusive.

I hope that interacting with you all and reading your stories will be helpful. Researching on my own has been enlightening. I'm sure you have had the same experience.

Welcome to WP!

If there was blood tests involved in assessing for autism I would not have put myself on the list to be assessed.

Welcome to WP! I think you'll find some nice people here. And if it ever doesn't seem to be a happy little corner just move to a different thread.

I don't know whether or not you are in the U.S. but I am and I can tell you about my assessment.

My Dad is still alive (and very old) and two of my siblings live near him. Predictably, they visit Dad often. One of the siblings is a sister who works as a nanny for special needs children and she happened to have one with her when visiting Dad in 2018. Several times Dad said the kid was doing the same "weird" things I used to do! (I must've made quite an impression on Dad...the kid was doing the "weird" things in 2018 and I probably did them in the 1950s!) When I heard about this I probably had a confused look on my face as I thought: "Isn't that the kid they think might be Autistic?!"

For quite some time I've suspected I was legitimately different. "Wrong Planet" is an excellent way to characterize the experience, though I would also use "Twilight Zone". With that hint I started researching Autism, and then got my bride to look into it, and we both saw a lot of me in the descriptions. That's when I decided I wanted an Adult Autism Assessment--so I could be sure. I didn't want to have to say "I think I might be slightly Autistic..." of "I think I might be almost Autistic...", I wanted to be sure.

I contacted my insurance company to see if I could get an Adult Autism Assessment. That's when things got ugly. They had no objection to me getting the assessment and quickly gave me a referral. The problem is, Adult Autism Assessments must not be very common so they were clueless about them! They didn't know what was involved. The referral was bad and the information they gave me was bad. It took me months and a lot of effort to get the correct information.

Once I had correct information and approval to find a provider myself it took about a month to find a practice of Psychologists that was willing to assess me.

I assume different psychologists approach things their own way. And they probably have to tailor things for the specific patient, but...

My assessment was three appointments in the same month. I collected a bunch of records and gave them to the Psychologist, even though I had not been asked for them. In the first appointment my bride and I spoke with the Psychologist, and she gave us questionnaires to take home and return, and she gave us a few questions to ask my Dad. The second appointment was just me and the Psychologist; we chatted, I took a questionnaire while she ate lunch, and she did a few "exercises" with me (not physical exercises, just some structured activities--that were clearly designed for young children). At the third appointment the Psychologist told my bride and I the result: Autism Spectrum Disorder, Level 1 (Mild).

I enjoyed the assessment! It was kind of fun! I did not find it to be complicated or intrusive (though the Psychologist may have been a bit taken aback by the pile of records I dumped on her!).

The Psychologist did do therapy for Autistics but knew I was not interested in that so she barely mentioned it. There was no sales pitch, she did not try to talk me into seeing her again.

I decided I wanted to tell as much of my immediate family as possible about the diagnosis in person, so I waited until Holiday Season when I would see most of them--they did not seem very interested, by the way. Then I had to concentrate on Tax Season so the paperwork would be done before Surgery Season (Dad's not the only one who is old ) which I was just about through when it became Pandemic Season . I'm a good recluse so I'm not rushing back out to the "real" world, yet. So, me and my diagnosis have not gone out much together, yet.

I hope you also enjoy your assessment, and that the diagnosis makes sense to you and explains many things you've experienced. Oh, and see my signature block to see what I thought of my diagnosis!

Sure, as many people here I wholeheartedly and sincerely identify such as friends..

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Hi and welcome. Yes, this journey of self-discovery is really something isn't it? Sometimes I am busy and life seems really great and I forget about my Aspie issues.

Then I get weird replies or silence from people despite my best efforts, and I remember who I am. This trait is as innate as the hair color or gender we were born with. It has a powerful grip over our lives.

welcome.

Friends--why not? As much or as little as it works out to be.

In regard to what Stillswimming said: I wonder how many of you have the frequent experience of people laughing when you weren't trying to be funny, and not laughing when you said something you thought was funny.