Going for a third diagnosis
Well, at least no-one can accuse me of not being thorough. Last October I received an unofficial ASD diagnosis at the autism centre here. Then I saw my GP to get a referral to a neurologist/psychiatrist who admitted she knew nothing about the subject but sent me to a therapist. The therapist diagnosed me with ASD, too. Now I have arranged an appointment for seven hours of testing at an autism research centre at a major university. I have to wait until January of next year for the appointment but I don't mind. It will be worth it. Whatever they say I will accept. The process has to stop somewhere. I know I'm weird but I won't be really sure my weirdness is due to ASD until I have full confidence in the experts who say it is.
That's a lot of waiting and testing but I can understand your need to know. I suspect that I have ASD but I'll never be completely confident in that theory until I can have it confirmed by a professional who knows more about it than I do, whenever that may be. Hopefully all that waiting and hours spent testing is worth it for you.
It really is a lot of testing, but I agree--if you can get a thorough eval, then you should. I spent maybe three days total getting evaluated in various ways, and the reports I got turned out to be pretty useful. Whatever the final conclusion, you'll have some information about yourself, and probably some paperwork you can turn in when you need accommodations.
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Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com
Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com
Good luck! From what I remember, most German university hospitals do a decent job at testing adults on the spectrum. Knowing there are several people (indirectly) involved in the process of evaluating you can be reassuring.
I received my diagnosis in a university hospital myself although being under the age of 21 back then, I was tested by the team of the ambulant child and youth psychiatry there.
Just this months, I asked for another university hospital nearby to be contacted on my behalf (who sure has quite autism-unfriendly contact options for an ambulance specialising on diagnosing ASDs in adults) in order to ask whether they would be able to retest me. Wish I had more confidence in their skills. Truth to be told, I've pretty much lost all confidence in mental health professionals when it comes to my issues with talking and understanding.
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Autism + ADHD
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The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. Terry Pratchett
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