Female Aspie Assessments

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Hi, I'm after some advice please.

Can anyone recommend a private specialist who can properly & accurately assess adult females for Asperger's, preferably in Wales/North West England - although I will travel? It seems as though many available ASD assessments are geared towards the male version of Asperger's when female traits are often more subtle.

I am aware there aren't any specifically female orientated tests available, as yet, but I would appreciate being steered towards someone who values the difference between M/F Asperger's traits & who has an underpinning knowledge of up to date research & approaches in this area.

I am 37yrs old & would like to get a private assessment rather than NHS. I recently scored 171 on the RAADS-R test, 162 of 200 on Aspie Quiz & 37 on the AQ, plus high scores on several other self diagnostic tests.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Cheers

You could try The Tuke Centre in York. I know they've done a fair bit of female assessing/diagnosing.

I am in South Wales and would like to try to do the same. My GPs response was that it would make me worse if I had lable - first time he ever met me

greengirl27 I'll look into the Tuke Centre, I wasn't aware of it, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

SilverAmazon -That's sounds like a typical GP response. That being said, I think it can be wise for people to consider the implications of being 'labelled'- which I'm sure you already have, multiple times, well before going to speak to this GP. For many people, myself included, I think it is something of a relief to work out what 'it' is that makes you feel so different to everyone else around you. But, that said, I have known people who, following the official diagnosis for other disorders, the opposite happened - which were all unexpected responses, followed by depression, plus various other complications thereafter. That could well be due to the specifics of the diagnosis though & the emotional stability of the person(s) seeking it, plus a lack of support which was clearly needed in those particular cases. You know yourself better than anyone, especially a GP who's only met you once! It could be though that this GP has seen such a circumstance happen with another patient, and is being cautious. Some people have gone on to top themselves following diagnosis of some disorders.

I personally have an extremely positive view of Aspergers & kind of love that fact I'm not NT like everyone else. I love how my brain works differently than the bulk of other people. I enjoy being an individual, always have, always will, so in that respect, a formal identification of ASD doesn't scare or worry me at all

Good luck with your journey.

Hi redDwarf77 I know what you mean. Even without DX I am actually going through a long process of acceptance. Having associated myself and my quirks with Aspergers I am a lot more relaxed. I believe it is part of me but it is not all of me so I am confident the GP response is incorrect. I am doing OK in life although some things would be a lot easier if I learned to manage some of my EF lapses better. I went to see him because my sleep is rubbish I can't shut my brain down to get to sleep and I am very sensitive to outside noises as I try to sleep. I also went specifically to ask for referral for Aspergers assessment. I think the label can be good or bad some people will try to use it against you and sometimes if I am honest there would be a temptation to use it myself when it comes to people I really don't like. I think a further problem in getting diagnosis is my age, gender, both parents are dead and I do function quite well all in all plus I refuse to have anything to do with my sibling who is a spiteful sociopath but might be seen as an alternative to parental comment on me as a child.

In a similar vein I am also Vegan and he seemed to assume that whatever else I had a problem with physically it had to be down to that. I swear if I was carried into A&E with two broken legs the doctors would want blood tests on hearing I was vegan even if 100 people were saying they saw the bus hit

I have for along time prided myself on many of my quirks and not being quite 'normal' before I started looking into Aspergers properly - different not less