Do you feel having an official diagnosis helps?

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I'm a self-identified Aspie and I have been wondering whether or not I should seek an official diagnosis.

In the past year I've lost two jobs and my home (don't worry I have a proper place to live with family) due to AS related situations.

Am I missing out on certain resources living without an official diagnosis? Who here does have an official diagnosis, and who doesn't? How has your diagnosis helped you?

Also what sort of AS related resources do you use on a regular basis? (ex: support groups, therapists, etc...)

Edit: I have NO insurance that would cover this so it would be out of pocket. It is also known this it is a difficult process for a grown female to be diagnosed - and may never happen. I have no issues with having AS, it's more just getting by socially.

Last edited by daisiestoast on 07 Apr 2013, 9:34 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yes, definitely!

Having an official diagnosis fully confirms that my experiences have nothing to do with schizophrenia, depressive disorders, brain damage, PTSD or mental retardation. Had I relied on my own 'diagnosis', I would still be filled with self-doubt and have no understanding of where my social frustration comes from - now I know, and I'm better able to take charge of social situations without resorting to dramatic words and actions. I read in The Haven of a lot of self-diagnosed people who still have extreme difficulty with social interactions ... maybe they would be better off to seek a professional diagnosis instead, and gain the benefit of professional counseling to help them manage their interpersonal relationships a little better.

It means that there is an official record of my condition if I should ever need to claim a disability or receive preference in housing after retirement, or in retaining employment up to retirement - that is, once high-functioning ASDs are recognized as disabilities under the law.

It also means that being called a 'poseur' will carry no weight with me, whatsoever.

Fnord's reasons are my reasons too. Yes, a diagnosis is a great thing.

Yes. Diagnosis helps. Before I was focused on whether or not I fit the criteria. Now my focus has changed to figuring out how to work with my difficulties.

I am in the process of obtaining a diagnosis. Of what exactly, I cannot say. Based on what I have learned in recent weeks, I believe it may be a form of autism, or autistic traits combined with something else--but if it is predominantly something else that produces these effects, It would be very good to know. I suspect that the tactics for dealing with the problems I still have at work and in my private life will vary depending on what the diagnosis is, therefore it is important to have the right one.

Yes, especially if you're looking for benefits.

I'd say someone who is doing fine in life, and doesn't have any existential crises about "why am I this way?" wouldn't benefit but it sounds like the OP would. You have to have an official diagnosis to get legal protection from discrimination, and to get disability benefits if you are one of the rare AS people who qualify. It also helped me to accept the way I am, and be a little more analytical about how to fix the issues that are bothering me.

You should get a medical diagnosis if you think you have Autism. It could be dangerous to self diagnose for the same reason it's dangerous tp self diagnose medical conditions like diabetes and just start watching your own blood sugar or chronic fatigue syndrome - what if the common symptoms of these things that you exhibit are caused by a brain tumour or cancer or in the case of AS ,a brain injury or Schizophrenia. WHAT if there's something less severe that's wrong with you-you don't have diabetes just a urinary tract infection and need antibiotics ,not to regulate your sugar , what if you have ADHD not AS and a great deal of your symptoms can be helped by a medication. Maybe you just had to pee and were thirsty a lot the last couple of weeks or just have autistic traits and a higher possibility of having an autistic kid (because you have some contributing genes)but there's nothing wrong with you.

Also if you need accommodations or benefits you can't get those without a diagnosis. If you don't need any help you probably don't have it because it's defined by a severe impairment in daily life.

I was just diagnosed as a kid so it wasn't my choice to see a doctor but my mum's and the school that referred me.

It gets me a pension, so yes.

If you want to know the why of things, yes. Anything else, not really.

I don't feel it helps quite the opposite infanct.

Can you elaborate on how having a diagnosis has harmed you?

I was diagnosed with autism when I was about 3 years old. My IQ was below 100. I got speech therapy as well. However, as I got older, I look at other autistic people, and I thought that I don't act like them because I can talk clearer with better grammar and vocabulary. My IQ had also increased to more than 120 and I even got into a gifted class. Then I researched about autism, and there are too possibilities: either I have Asperger's or high funtioning autism.

So do I have Asperger's or HFA? And since I was 8 years old, my autism hasn't been treated anymore because my mother thinks that in spite my tantrums, I can live a normallish life. That's OK if I don't get any therapies, anymore, right?

An interesting question, in the DSM IV its Aspergers Disorder, it would appear that you cannot get officially diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome. And the value of the diagnosis is to get government support or a pension.

In fact if you look at the criteria, you will see that you can have the required number of symptoms, but if you don't have: clinically significant impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning you cannot get the diagnosis.

What this seems to mean is if you have learned to cope with the syndrome, then you cannot get the diagnosis.

It was not till about a month ago, that I realised that I have Aspergers Syndrome (obvoiusly self-dianosed)
Now to the question, I am 64 and have learned to cope with my weirdness reasonably well, so I don't see how an official diagnosis is possible or helpful.

I admit that it would have been much better to have realised I had Aspergers much earlier, and if my friends had volunteered that they thought I had it rather than just confirm it when I told them. But then NTs are polite.

So the real answer to: Is an official diagnosis helpful is: it depends on what you want from it.

Anyway, the criteria for having Aspergers DSisorder has been decided by a committee, not by evidence as with most diseases.

Cheers

Being diagnosed can give some relief. "Okay, there IS a name for what's going on, and if need be that description can be used in explaining things to other people."

To be left without an actual name for your condition...

Sort of a lost feeling.

Thing is, if what I've been told about the new standard (to go into effect next month?), unless someone, even with "support" (whatever that means) still is impaired in social interaction, ect., then they can NOT be viewed as autistic.

Where does that leave high functioning people?

Back to being called "weirdo", maybe even by themselves?

It also means that if I get to be evaluated again after next month May 2013 (and hopefully this time not by a quack who thinks all autistics have to be like "Rain Man"), I'll still not be found to be autistic (because I'm high functioning).

Where does that leave me?

And what about people who are diagnosed, but while impaired somewhat, still function and interact with others? How are they to be described now?

Having a word to describe your condition can be of great help to people. Not having a word, a name...

That's pretty bad.
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AQ 31

Your Aspie score: 101 of 200
Your neurotypical (non-autistic) score: 103 of 200
You seem to have both Aspie and neurotypical traits

Last edited by Sethno on 08 Apr 2013, 7:45 am, edited 1 time in total.

I think if you feel sure something is wrong with you psychologically or neurologically, you should get it checked out to find out exactly what it is.

Just don't go looking for a particular badge or a label because you may not get it.

After being run though a diagnostic mill as a child that included psyche tests, aptitude tests, skull x-rays and brainwave readings, I was placed in special class rooms and schools for special needs / developmentally disabled kids. So that was my diagnosis.

The autism resources I'm looking towards these days is, helping kids with autism as a volunteer. Seeking to help others, helps you to focus less on your own problems. Or so I've been told.

Last edited by briankelley on 08 Apr 2013, 7:56 am, edited 2 times in total.