Cons of getting legaly diagnosed

Post Reply New Topic

I would like to ask those who have been diagnosed with AS or HFA what the disadvantages are. I know that you can be legally required to disclose this as pre-existing condition to insurers, and that this can effect employability.

I was diagnosed with a non-verbal learning disability as a kid and never really had it effect me significantly, however this being a lesser known condition helps.

I want a diagnosis for my own need for things to be neatly and concretely defined and I don't think that I could ever tell anyone that I have AS or fully accept it myself without this.

I know that this makes me not properly consider the disadvantages, so hence the thread

possibly might make your life insurance rates higher?

I'm not formally diagnosed; my therapist won't diagnose it herself. I'm still considering it.

If you are diagnosed, I'd like to hear you experience.

If you are, I would be very careful about whom you tell. Employers, for example, might discriminate... but the flip side is that it would be a way for you to get accommodations (for sensory issues, or for you to get written instructions) and would provide some protection against being fired. This in the U.S.

Two other threads I responded to brought up some ugly events that happened to me and my family last year and involved visits from Child Protective Services.

I won't relate all that happened last year, just the part that's relevant to this thread. It seems that someone, a so-called "friend," took it upon herself to call CPS on us. Among other reasons, I was allegedly a danger to my children because I was diagnosed with AS.

The anonymous caller obviously didn't know what she was talking about. I'm very certain with a high degree of likelihood that I have AS, but I've NEVER been diagnosed by a professional counselor or psychiatrist.

Had this been the case, I likely would have told the truth and put my family at risk of being torn apart simply because ONE allegation would have been true. But since I've never been diagnosed, the answer was a straightforward and honest "No."

I can't imagine how having AS would endanger one's family, but I'm sure that would have been a definite "con" for me to have a diagnosis made. If I start getting any kind of counseling now, that will just show the world I'm crazy and invite the social workers in.

Some protection, as long as you werent like me having a meltdown over peoples lazyness and inability to complete their work, a meltdown in which I pretty much entered an adrenaline fueled rage (Yes, I get like the hulk minus the whole gamma rays and turning huge and green) and ended up kicking a set of heavy steel doors out of the frame and into the wall across from them.

And honestly getting an official DX didnt help me back when I got it. This was back in my childhood. was in 4th grade and in all gifted classes and stuff, but because of incidents and such I get put into a special education class in which I fell extremely far behind academically with no hope of ever getting back to where i could have been education wise. Pretty much I was doing high level algebra, but that ended up getting turned around into basic elementary level math. So yeah I am kinda biased against the system for f*****g up what I could have been.

As for when you reach adulthood, depending on where you live determines what resources you could potentially have.

In some countries, the army won't accept you if you have AS (whether that's a 'con' is up to you)

Well from what I know (because I have asked around about it)

Dealing with the US military
-Marines wont take ya
-Airforce : not sure
-Navy wont take ya (I actually got told that it was because if you have to be stuck on a ship/sub for months at a time, you have to be somewhat predictable and able to fit with the rest of the crew)
-US Army/Army reserves: Not sure
-National Guard: Yes
-US Coast Guard: Not Sure


These may or may not apply now, since the info is around 4-6 years old.

I barely squeeked through highschool, taking summer school after summer school to finally graduate at close to the bottom of my class of 957 students. twenty years later I graduated college with two majors magna cum laude so I wouldn't sorrow over 'what might have been' as it ain't over until it is over.

Merle

well thanks I guess. Things sorta normalized sophomore through senior year. Was back in mainstream classes and stuff at that time. Was number 3 out of a class of 180. Got my pc tech certifications (was 2006 when I graduated and I aced the A+, Net+ and a bunch of microsoft certifications such as the one for microsoft server. sadly they are all outdated now and I cant afford the pricetag to recertify. Was like $600+ for the entire MSCE exam. At least school payed for half of it back then, parents took the rest of the tab.

Even then it wasnt really a normal highschool environment since I went through a vocational-technical school. and obviously I specialized in Information Systems. The sad thing is the fact that even with a diploma and proof of certifications, if I went to college to get my degree I would have been pretty much learning stuff I already knew about until near the end of the courses. And the fact that the paper = proof sadly, why cant companies just give you a f*****g exam to take to test your knowledge instead of relying on a f*****g piece of paper :/

I am not sure what country you are in, but if you are worried about insurance, I am not sure why. AS is not a "terminal disease", it is not a bad habit that could effect your health, like smoking, and as far as I know, and I could be wrong, we do not have a shorter life span because of it. So why you would have to declare it, I am not sure.

Go to your nearest legal aid office or ring the Department that deals with discrimination. Fight legal with legal.

Stupid insurance companies

Take care,

Mics

This one surprised and disappointed me, i'm sorry you had to go through that

In terms of what country I live in, I am Canadian. Our privacy and anti-discrimination laws are for the most part pretty strong, although I would like to understand the situation in the US as well, because work may well take me there.



My understanding is that insurance companies cannot force you to disclose a condition, however if they do find out that you have been diagnosed with anything you choose not to disclose your insurance coverage becomes worthless. They do not have to prove that your pre-existing condition had any effect on your health just that you had one and failed to inform them.

I know that a number of insurance companies hire groups to dig through the medical history of anyone applying for an expensive medical procedure to try and find a pre-existing condition so that the insurer can refuse coverage.

greedy insurance companies

because that @#$!-ing piece of paper doesn't tell them what you know. It tells them you stuck it out for the required amount of time and jumped through the required amount of hoops and took the required amount of @#$% it takes to get that piece of paper.

that is mostly what they want to know is can you do all of that?
That piece of paper says you can.

Merle

I was diagnosed as an adult. I haven't noticed any pro's or con's to it.

I have switched insurance companies several times since diagnosis. I have never had a problem with them and my diagnosis. I also pay the same insurance rates as the other people I work with. I work for a very large company, who obviously buys insurance at bulk. It may be different if you had to buy insurance yourself as an individual?

Oh i don't know about that. Any holes a goal with that lot

I've been thinking about this for some time now. My doctor told me that I "very likely have Aspergers" but then explained to me that it was up to me if I wanted to pursue an official diagnosis and there were a lot of ramifications if I did, becoming uninsurable & possibly unemployable because of it. Since I have other significant health issues now as well that have rendered me basically unemployable, I might as well go ahead and get the official diagnosis because it can help me get Social Security. My situation is this:
I have been trying to get this really great job with the tourism bureau in my area and I was already in the midst of the application process when I was diagnosed early this past week with cancer. I wasn't even going to mention the possible Aspergers because it really wouldn't affect this particular job (it's perfect for me, I would be working alone, not dealing with the public, doing what I like to do - nature photography), but now faced with cancer, I wonder if I should mention that now. I know if I do, they will NOT hire me.

It sucks that people are being denied access to jobs over insurability issues. This is why we need a government-run insurance program so that "uninsurables" like me can still get a job and support ourselves, get health care, pay our taxes and contribute to society like everyone else. It's a form of discrimination, truth be told. Insurance companies affect us on so many levels that they're literally violating our civil rights as well as our basic human rights. I can still work, whether it's Aspergers or Cancer. My cancer is treatable and curable, plus I've worked for over 27 years with Aspergers always in the background. I don't see why AS should even be an issue with insurance companies. Insurance companies are stupid, myopic and need to be eliminated.

I have never had a problem with getting insurance because of my ADULT autism, but I think the pivotal word here is ADULT. I can see it being a problem with getting an autistic child on a policy because of all the myriad of 'cures' and therapies out there, some medical, some not.

I've never had any trouble with getting my son on my insurance policy.

I have heard of insurance companies saying that autism is a 'pre-existing condition', therefore they will not cover any type of ABA counseling for it. They will let you keep them on your health policy for medical reasons, they just don't want to cover the autistic therapy.

I have yet to encounter this also. Maybe I have just been lucky. If I do encounter it, I would move 15 miles to the west into Kansas, while keeping my same job and insurance. They just passed some legislation there so insurance companies have to cover it. Then I would call the insurance company back and let them know who got the last laugh.