Question for the self diagnosed

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Joined: 18 Jul 2013
Age: 58
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Location: my own little world

07 Jun 2014, 10:06 pm

MPEJDBA, Thank you for explaining this to me. I understand it better now and it is very good info to know. I don't think you offended anyone. Certainly not me anyway.

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"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

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FallingDownMan
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Joined: 27 May 2013
Age: 58
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Posts: 383

07 Jun 2014, 10:53 pm

MPEJDBA wrote:

skibum wrote:

FallingDownMan wrote:

MPEJDBA wrote:

skibum wrote:

FallingDownMan, I am sorry if this is an assumption but I would imagine those meetings were before passage of the ACA. Insurance companies are no longer allowed to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions, but they can cancel coverage for placing false information. Furthermore, as my understanding is that we don't have a "medication" that "fixes" us, flak about expensive co-payments are weak at best. Again, advocate.

I never wrote this and I don't really even fully understand what it means. I am not saying anything about what was posted here, I am just clarifying that this was someone else's post. Sometimes if you miss a quote parentheses you can misquote a post. I believe MPEJDBA might have actually written the post. Please correct me if I am wrong.

Yes, I believe a quote parentheses was missed. That was my comment. What it means is that in the United States insurance companies used to be able to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. This was not limited to something like being on the spectrum, but included things like developing cancer and subsequently being denied coverage and therefore access to some form of cost reduced medical care. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has changed this and insurance companies are no longer allowed to deny coverage for those pre-existing conditions. FallingDownMan is correct in that occupational therapy, especially if there is evidence of someone having worked in a particular environment "without issue" for a long time, might be challenged or outright denied by an insurance company as a co-pay for being an "unnecessary expenditure." Nevertheless, an official diagnosis may trigger legal (not necessarily economic) protection under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and rules promulgated by the United States Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

I hope I did not offend anybody as that was not my intention. FallingDownMan, I am sorry that I missed the point. I just wanted you to know that there was that change and that legal protections do exist. I really did think I was helping and that the change might be news to you. I am sorry if it did not come across that way. I am not sure what type of work you do and my own examples are personal and anecdotal. I have no trouble with my work, it is the extraneous elements of the workplace that are difficult. HR has accommodated in the past based on these legal protections and it has made it easier to focus on my work. This has included things that are seemingly as minor as allowing me a less obtrusive desk lamp instead of an overhead light. Additionally, I am sorry if I have offended anyone else. That was not my intention. I just wanted the original poster on the thread to know that an "official" diagnosis (which is not necessary for any other reason) can trigger legal protection in the United States.

This is one of the many reasons I believe myself to be ASD. Things I say come across wrong all the time. I wasn't trying to come across as offended. I thought I was misunderstood and trying to clarify what I had said. I apologize for sounding offended. I guess I should also apologize for getting the quote wrong in my attempt to make it easier to read. I really, really suck at paperwork, and this is an example of how I mess paperwork up.

Any way, back to the topic of this thread... lol

skibum
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07 Jun 2014, 11:13 pm

Awww, No worries at all FallingDownMan, it's all good.
Hugs,
Skibum!

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"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

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StarTrekker
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07 Jun 2014, 11:42 pm

jetbuilder wrote:

t I think I'm on the autism spectrum. He said "I already know that."

I'm in contact with a local autism services center. I sent them a description of my traits, and that I'm looking for an assessment. One of the assessors emailed me back saying that from my self report, an assessment may be a good choice for me. They're sending me a bunch of paperwork to fill out, and I'll hopefully have an appt in July!

That's very exciting, I'm happy for you Jetbuilder!

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"Survival is insufficient" - Seven of Nine
Diagnosed with ASD level 1 on the 10th of April, 2014
Rediagnosed with ASD level 2 on the 4th of May, 2019
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skibum
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07 Jun 2014, 11:57 pm

That is fantastic Jetbuilder. Please keep us posted on how it all works out.

_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph

MrGrumpy
Velociraptor

Joined: 22 Apr 2014
Age: 75
Gender: Male
Posts: 425
Location: England

09 Jun 2014, 2:13 pm

FallingDownMan wrote:

because you have made it this far without care, you apparently have already learned how to cope. If you already know how to cope, then there is now reason for therapy to teach you coping mechanisms. Therefore, there is no reason for them to pay for a worthless treatment. This was from counselors I visited first in February, and the second April to current

FDM - I really don't have a problem with the advice you have been given. As an Aspie, your most likely response to therapy would be 'you really don't know what I am talking about', and you would walk away. I have done it more than once.

Mystnocturne
Butterfly

Joined: 6 Mar 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 12
Location: USA

09 Jun 2014, 7:10 pm

zachrulez wrote:

This thread is really good timing for me, because I just got attacked pretty hard by a few people on another forum for being self diagnosed. One of the people discrediting my diagnosis was someone who also suffers from AS and I don't understand that at all. She's from the UK though and probably doesn't have any concept about how horrible the health care system in the US is in terms of being diagnosed. The other one is part of a group of people there who have dug into other members accusing them of using the condition as an excuse to be an as*hole. I for one don't doubt anyone who claims the condition on that forum. It's easy to recognize the symptoms when you can see them in the mirror... so to speak.

In terms of self diagnosis, it was actually my mom that discovered AS. I believe it was through Internet research but I can't be confident I'm remembering that right. But yeah, that's probably what hurt when I got attacked for self diagnosis. I wasn't really aware anything was wrong with me until my parents matched up the symptoms when I reached adulthood and all of us pretty much agreed that the symptoms fit. More than anything else, being aware of it my life suddenly makes a lot more sense to me when it was very confusing and frustrating to me before.

I mean to a degree I feel like those responsible for diagnosing dropped the ball on me in the first place, (an entire childhood where no one knew what was wrong with me, so they eventually settled on nothing.) so why exactly is it that getting a diagnosis from these kind of people is something I need for my own word of having the disorder to carry weight?

I was twenty, which was about four years ago, when I heard of AS.

It actually happened that my younger brother, who was non-verbal for the first six years of his life and never went to school until events occurred that forced mom to put him in school for third grade was diagnosed as having AS. Before that, none of us had ever heard of Autism. We were at one of my brother's IEPs and they described the symptoms that defined AS. When we were leaving after the meeting, mom looked at me and said "What he described sounds just like you."

Then I started looking up things on Autism. I like looking up random things. And I realized I had quite a lot of AS symptoms. So, I knew. That's how I got my self-diagnosis. From my mom. To this day, I'm still not comfortable saying it because I don't know super much about it and what it means for me. When i tell someone, they want to know how it makes me feel and what it's like. I still don't quite understand it. So, I can't tell them. I don't know what it's like to be neurotypical. I mean, I'm still learning all the terms.

I didn't know what was wrong with me. I just knew something was wrong, as a child, in elementary school. I couldn't understand why I kept acting out and being unable to control myself. I wanted friends and cried when I did or said something that forced people away from me. It was hard, like my body was a robot I was consciously trapped inside and I didn't have the remote control. It wasn't until I was a teenager, mid-teens, that I could chill and act closer to some semblance of "normal."

I agree that the school system failed on a diagnosis. To them, I was just a misbehaving child who happened to be very astute in the classroom. Interestingly enough, the person I liked to hang out with the most was a janitor in one school and a special education teacher in another school. But I don't think they, any of the teachers in those schools, heard of Autism. My brother was diagnosed in a county school and I grew up in trashy public schools most of the time.

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-No, no! I said frame.
-Crane?
-FRAME!
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goldfish21
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09 Jun 2014, 8:06 pm

I read this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Guid ... ny+attwood

and it completely described my entire life right down to how I process thoughts & various other very personal idiosyncracies - the sorts of things that only you will know if you do or don't do are described in very good detail in this book. When you read it, you'll realize whether it applies to you or not, and if almost all of it does, then you can be pretty damned sure you're on the spectrum.

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No :heart:

for supporting trump. Because doing so is deplorable.

skibum
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09 Jun 2014, 8:15 pm

goldfish21 wrote:

I am reading it now and it's funny because I keep copying and pasting excerpts into my email so that I could share them with people in my life. As I am reading I am remembering specific incidents in my childhood that are described by what Tony is saying and it is really great to understand why I am the way I am. I never thought I could get through 400 plus pages this quickly. It is a great read. I have been skimming through some of the treatments though because I can go back and look at those later. I am, in this first read, really wanting to understand how I tick. But it is really a great book. I think there is a test you can take at the end to help you self diagnose as well. I am not sure because I have not gotten to the end yet but I hope it's there.

_________________
"I'm bad and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me."

Wreck It Ralph

Mystnocturne
Butterfly

Joined: 6 Mar 2012
Gender: Female
Posts: 12
Location: USA

09 Jun 2014, 8:31 pm

I read that book years ago, but I should read it again. When I read it, I wasn't sure what applied to me and what didn't. And I didn't have much understanding of myself back then either. I do agree that it is a spectacular book.

_________________
-Wait! Did you say rain?
-No, no! I said frame.
-Crane?
-FRAME!
-Yes, I do blame myself.

motherof2
Snowy Owl

Joined: 3 Mar 2011
Age: 50
Gender: Female
Posts: 127
Location: California

12 Jun 2014, 5:59 pm

I pretty much diagnosed my husband with Asperger's after both our kids were diagnosed on the spectrum. I already knew about Classic Autism because of my OT degree but did not think our first born was autistic for years. Once she was diagnosed and researched more about high functioning autism I realized that my husband was also autistic. He denied it at first until he took the time to research on his own. He has no interest in getting an official diagnosis for a few reasons: money, no need for any services, and possible legal issues. No gain and only possible headaches. Kids are diagnosed because unlike us, they cannot function without services in school.

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Married to a undiagnosed Aspie and have 2 kids on the spectrum.

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