parrow wrote:
The real question is what do you expect to change with a diagnosis? Haters will still hate. Jerks will still be jerks. Ignorant people will remain ignorant. Your diagnosis will not change how other people treat you.
I can tell you what will change. Your insurance for the rest of your life will cost more. Certain careers that require extensive background checks will never be available to you. If you're ever charged with a crime and go to trial, it will come up and be used against you. If you have a medical symptom and go to see a doctor, some will see your diagnoses and disregard anything you tell them.
I have a very good Dr for my 7yr od daughter. He told us she clearly is on the autism spectrum and could diagnos her as such. But he recomended we try to go without the diagnosis so that she will not be excluded in normal schooling. He suggested for us to start with mainstreaming her, and only if she is unable to recive the services she needs at school to then get the diagnosis. But he warned us that once the diagnosis is there it will never go away, and she will never be treated as "normal" again.
As someone with an "official adult diagnosis" for myself and an off the record diagnosis for my daughter, I can tell you that it doesn't really change much in any good way.
The only reason I would ever suggest getting an official diagnosis is if you wish to pursue disability related benefits, or if it is needed to show discrimination issues. Just understand that there is no going back.
As an aspie black and white thinker and a need for truth telling I needed that finality and certainty. Before the diagnoses I thought I knew who I was but I only knew it partly because I had a laymen s superficial knowledge of aspergers. This knowledge has helped me make decisions to assert myself and decisions to back off. The diagnoses in my case was made after years of going downhill and the decision to go for it while ultimately mine was not originally my idea. The factors that caused things to go south have not changed so maybe I will continue to go downhill. But even then through support groups and here I get to converse with other aspies something that would not have occurred if I decided not to go for it. When I do leave this earth it will be fully knowing who I am and a better idea of why things happened they way they did.
But for a young adult it's a whole different set of circumstances so I won't tell them what to do. Your daughter has a diagnoses just an unofficial one.
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Professionally Identified and joined WP August 26, 2013
DSM 5: Autism Spectrum Disorder, DSM IV: Aspergers Moderate Severity
“My autism is not a superpower. It also isn’t some kind of god-forsaken, endless fountain of suffering inflicted on my family. It’s just part of who I am as a person”. - Sara Luterman
24 Oct 2013, 11:00 am
