I suppose "Hello" seems appropriate...

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So, hello.

When I returned to the UK (see my blog for info) I went to see a doctor. The doctor was not available, so I had to see the locum instead. I was making the tentative steps towards getting a diagnosis for Asperger's. The questions and statements put forward by the locum very swiftly indicate her ignorance of the subject. "Why do you think you have Asperger's?" she asked. It's like asking if I feel different to other people. Well I don't know - I've never been anyone else. She then proceeded to describe my therapist friend as a "so-called" therapist and stated quite clearly that she did not believe me.

I said, "This is horses**t," and walked out.

There's a bit more to this story, but I have fifty seconds left on this library computer and have to go.

Not much of an introduction I know. Sorry.

EJ

Welcome.

I had to do a search on locum .

Just wait until your regular doctor comes back. She probably felt you should leave the diagnosing to the doctors.

Hello, and welcome to the Wrong Planet community, EJ.

Hi ElliottJumpshoe

To WrongPlanet!! !

Welcome to wrongplanet!! !!
You will like it here, you are among friends!

It looks like you are good at standing up for yourself.

Welcome to WP!

That's a jolly good point actually.
How would you know if you've only ever been yourself for your entire life?

I've often wondered the same thing myself...

I mean, it's not like one could easily step inside someone else's mind to check is it?
Someone might express their emotions, but that's not the same as actually being that person and feeling the experience from his/her point of view.

Sure, you can hazard a guess at what it might be like, but that's never going to be exactly the same experience as what's going on inside that person's head, as seen through his/her eyes.

Interesting philosophical query that one...

Thank you all for welcoming me.

Dedhead66, if I'd had more time to explain the situation I'd have been able to tell you that I was met with an ignorant and bureaucractic reaction. The locum started to get impatient with me and asked me questions that were entirely irrelevant. And GPs in the UK cannot give diagnoses for Asperger's or autism; they can only refer you to specialists.

The problem has been that in the two places I've stayed since returning to the UK (East Anglia and the West Midlands), I've been told that there are no resources for people with these conditions, certainly none who can diagnose. The only alternative in these cases would be to see a private consultant, which I could never afford.

After the locum incident, I moved to another surgery and saw the doctor there. He was good and very understanding, but did rather surprise me with the question, "Why don't you just move on and put it behind you?" I told him that I wanted to know about this, I wanted to understand why I couldn't do a lot of things that other people can do and vice versa. I wanted this part of my life to be framed, defined.

Since I have only a temporary home and there are no resources around here, getting a diagnosis is proving very difficult.

Excuse me for going on, but this is the only place I've been able to air my feelings about all of this.

Welcome.
You've summed the situation up pretty well.

Story of my life.

Ignorance, fear and lots of little bits of paper...




Correct.
Even then, specialists can argue amoungst themselves and the blame can get passed around for years.

If you do get labeled (as was the case with me), people begin to stop treating you like a human being and start treating you like a frightening list of things you "can't do".

It doesn't matter what your level of education is or what you've achieved apparently.
If you're labeled you are talked to very slowly in a patronising way and are met with condescension and suspicion wherever you go.

If people are unaware of the label or the label is removed, as if by magic, people start talking to you like you are capable of stringing together sentences again. People believe in you again and treat you like you deserve opportunities.

This is crazy.
You haven't changed as a person, it's only people's perceptions of you that change.
You still had exactly the same difficulties and strengths as before.

People are frightened and confused about labels.
There is stigma and people want to avoid that if they possibly can.



That's right.
Not even some of the experts are sure.
Actually, I don't think that anyone's really sure.



I've lost count of the number of times I've been told this exact same thing...

By friends, family, professionals, well meaning people.

I'd love to be able to put all this behind me, but trying to forget about it and gloss over issues as if they don't exist just means that I bottle stuff up inside.
I still have social difficulties.

Denial and secrecy hasn't helped anyone, least of all me.

PS:

It seemed that when I was labeled, it was the ignorant preaching to the ignorant i.e.

In all my years of therapy, I had no idea what they were actually treating me for. It was never properly explained to me as to why I had to go through all that. I was confused. It wasn't for want of asking, but I never seemed to get a straight answer!

There were a lot of teachers/professionals etc who thought that they knew what they were talking about by saying:
"There's something wrong with her."

No positives or helpful advice, only negatives:

"You can't do this...You can't do that."

I was no longer an individual human being, according to them, but a subhuman set of criteria.

Perhaps they thought that they knew more on the subject than they actually did. Perhaps they believed that every kid would act exactly as they expected according to a set of negative criteria.
Perhaps they were only going by what they'd been taught or read in books.

Perhaps people are genuinely afraid of people and phenomena that they don't (or aren't willing to) try and understand.

I've met folks who've worked with "special needs" kids for many years who've openly admitted that they couldn't accurately define what AS was or didn't know much about it.

I also find it more than slightly disturbing that professionals claimed that they could understand what I could perceive in my own mind and what I was really capable of better than I could (!)

Maybe they believed that I was incapable of even trying to understand and analyse my own mind.



I was told:
"Forget about AS and move on."

That's like saying (as an analogy):

"Don't think about the big blue elephant."

So what's the first image that people think of when they shut their eyes after this statement?

The big blue elephant of course!

It's exactly the same with Aspergers.

You can hide the "elephant" of course by "covering it up" with furniture and whatnot to escape the stigmatisation and fear.

Is there an elephant in my house?
Of course there isn't:
That's just um...er...my new blue table right there...it's got four legs hasn't it?

The elephant (your social difficulties) is still there though.

Hello, and welcome.

They really don't understand this condition. I've been put through a lot with the UK system (and it continued after diagnosis), and understand what you're dealing with.

Good on you for walking out on the locum. A psychiatrist once asked me exactly the same question, "Why do you think you have Asperger's" (though he did believe me); however, the second time he asked it, I became slightly irate and said "You've already asked me that!" I also used the opportunity to air my views on the appalling local mental health services.

Thats alwa--usually good. Welcome to the Forum!

"Hello is all right" is a catch phrase of a robotic villain from the Destroyer series of novels. Was your subject title a reference to Mr. Gordons?