Goverment lacks funding for adult AS assessment

Post Reply New Topic

I'm in the UK and just got told by my psych that the referral to the autism specialists for assessment was declined (6 MONTHS AGO!) due to insufficient funding by the government. Has anyone else out there been told the same thing? Or has anyone recently been assessed?

I think that they should have given you the funding.

I was diagnosed at a young age, but I've been hearing of adults out here in America getting diagnosed too. That's just wrong to get declined for a referral. D:

I was offered a NHS assessment for AS about a year ago. I didn't take it up (I'd gone private by that time), but it was a serious offer - they even sent me the AQ test to fill in. That's in Leicester.

Were you referred by a GP or psychiatrist? You can tell me to piss off but how much was it to go private? My psych said it would be a couple of grand which to me is a lot. The reason I ask who referred you is that my psych said a GP referral may have a better chance of being funded (wtf?)

Yup, that's just happened to me too.
I got the referral from the GP, but then nothing happened. Apparently, the unit was getting so many referrals from the area that instead of actually dealing with them, it shut!

I'm now having to hunt around for somewhere that will do an assessment privately, which I cannot afford, just to get the basic help I need.

Wow I'm so sorry for you but kind of pleased in a way I'm not the only one. I'm from Newcastle. What city are you from?

My GP referred me for the NHS diagnosis. I've never had a shrink. I referred myself for the private one. It cost me about £650 to go private. £2000 is too much! I looked at about 5 diagnosticians (from the NAS lists), and only one of them wanted that kind of money, so he didn't get the job. Everybody else was in the £600-800 ball park.

I'm currently based in Middlesbrough.
Still trying to find somewhere in the area that will do the testing - the University want to sort out screening for us, but that shouldn't be necessary.

ToughDiamond, that's a better price range but still way too much for what it is.

Ravenchild, do you mean the uni would do the tests or pay?

The University want to set up a screening programme, because there are a few of us with "informal" Dx, but in the mean time, they are considering paying for private assessment just to get the label on record. I don't know how sucessful that will be...

Sheffield is limited to half a dozen or so individuals it can afford to give adult assessments too each financial year. Basically childhood assessments get higher priority and adult at this moment in time is not really seen as a crucial service to provide.

In some respects I can understand the logic as you want to avoid people having to go through life into adulthood before finding out they are on the spectrum. But in the mean time that leaves a lot of undiagnosed adults seeking redress who are in a legal and medical limbo land.

I think for people like myself who were diagnosed in chidhood we were quite lucky in many respects I think it you guys who get adult diagnosis have a raw deal not just in getting diagnosis but then for anyone to take the diagnosis seriously afterwards.

Maybe the US government can dip into their ABA Therapy Fund, and use some of that money to pay for the assessment of adults. They certainly have more than enough money, in that pot.

The logic in that would be 'Lets get kids diagnosed and into schemes to brainwash them into being normal so they'll fit into society'. At the end of the day, everything boils down to money and the precious economy. *sigh*

Well by that logic all socialisation from the moment of conception is brainwashing. Education ends when you have been taught to read and write as a child. Oh how evil functionalism is.

Speach and language therapy (which i recieved shortly after being diagnosed) through the use of Carol Grey's social stories and other interventions they use hardly "cure" you of having AS.

What they really do is give you time and space to realise that certain actions and behaviours have a consequence that may seem completly unrelated and not thought about by a person with AS. So all it really does is show you how the dots connect in inter-personal relationships and communication amongst your peers

I live in an inter-connected urban society. I therefore need to communicate with others in order to access skills and services which others provide. And to provide a contribution to the society myself.

If I can communicate with others effectively
IF I can maintain friendships and relationships
If I can secure an income through work or other pursuits that utilise my skills and are compatible with my needs
IF I can live independent of others

Then in summation I will lead a more healthy fullfilling and higher quality of life then the opposites would provide me.

That sucks, and I sympathise completely. I didn't get a referral until I was 28, and I had to see six different shrinks before I could find one who'd consent to do it - and this was in 1999, before recession hit on a national scale.

In the long term, refusing to refer someone for financial reasons is a false economy, because if this is happeneing on a regular basis it will contribute to a wide-ranging underclass of people who will have no choice but to live on welfare benefits.

It's also appalling that your shrink has only just told you about your request being declined six months ago.