can u be in your 20's or 30's and still be undiagnosed?

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I think he will get a proper assessment this time. The reason being that his mother is better informed. She can say 'I think my son has Asperger's because of x, y, z' instead of 'I don't know what's going on here please help'.

Lack of awareness, even among parents, is a real problem. I never considered autism as the cause of my daughter's problems because I didn't know what it was. Whenever I saw a professional I would go into detail about her behaviours that were problematic but I never mentioned all the behaviours which weren't. For example, it never occured to me that eating her food in a particular order or putting paint over the whole piece of paper was somehow connected to her having screaming meltdowns everyday. So it never occured to me to tell them about it and nobody every asked.

Don't feel bad: my mother never guessed that I was on the autistic spectrum or, really, came anywhere close to guessing what was actually "wrong" with me and she has a doctorate in psychology!

I'm 24 and not diagnosed. I think I'll try and do that this year.

That's really surprising, because I kind of thought there was Autism/Aspergers awareness in the UK. Well, I guess like a lot of things, tends to be a difference betwee theory and practice.

That's really surprising, because I kind of thought there was Autism/Aspergers awareness in the UK. Well, I guess like a lot of things, tends to be a difference betwee theory and practice.

I think it's the same old problem that everyone knows about autism until you actually ask them about it and then you find out that they don't know anything.

The autism & AS awareness in some rural areas of the south is pretty bad to. When I was a toddler my mom told my general practitioner that she thought I was autistic but he just laughed & said "Nick's just being Nick". When I had a mental breakdown when I was getting ready to turn 21; the 1st psych I saw said I had AS but she wasn't qualified to test so she refereed me to someone else for an official diagnoses. AS got ruled out in favor of four personality disorders & at least six other mental disorders & some of the diagnoses seem almost completely contradictory to each other. I've seen other psychs sense for things & they all agreed that I didn't have anything related to autism but I'm almost positive I have AS because AS seems to fit me very well & it seems almost impossible that anyone could actually have all 10+ disorders I was diagnosed with instead. Very few people here have heard of Aspergers & autism & the ones who have think it's a form of mental retardation. I'm under the impression that the quacks/psychs/docs here have that same misconception. My state is having major financial problems rite now & our republican governor is planning on running for president so he's been slashing health care & social services as much as possible. In answer to this question it is very possible that some people will never get diagnosed & if an autistic/Aspie lived in Louisiana their whole life; they will very likely not be diagnosed

Ain't that the truth!!

Now if he would have followed that up with helping you build upon your strengths and matter-of-factly address your deficiencies, then he might have been on to something.

And to top it off, a substantial percentage of psychologists are "be righters." By that, I mean this person views their being right as more important than your life going well. It really is incredible. And when they're in this mindset, if you bring up any kind of question or issue, no matter how reasonable, it will be viewed as evidence that you're in "denial" or something like that. Get another professional. Get someone you can halfway talk to and who isn't so huffy.

And to top it off, a substantial percentage of psychologists are "be righters." By that, I mean this person views their being right as more important than your life going well! It really is incredible. And when they're in this mindset, if you bring up any kind of question or issue, no matter how reasonable, it will be viewed as evidence that you're in "denial" or something like that. It is very much circular reasoning on the part of the "professional." Get another professional. Get someone you can halfway talk to and who isn't so huffy.

I've thought about it but it cost me more than a few thousand dollars when I had it done & that was about 6/7 years ago. I would not be able to get it for free or anything here because the public health-care services(partially the mental health) have been having their budges slashed. There's less private psychs now as well & they are in very high demand so I doubt things would go any better for me if I were to get retested. Plus the social services have been having their begets slashed to so even if I had an official diagnoses; I would not be able to get any extra help or anything. It would be a waste of money & a major inconvenience to simply get told that I don't have AS & an official diagnoses would not change anything in my life rite now either.

22 here undiagnosed.. have tried but have either run into the aforementioned 'be righters', or had a 'lazy' assessment, ie having to travel to london, spending whole day in a panicked state and then being diagnosed with various anxiety disorders with no follow up.. uk mental health services, in my opinion are so crap it's almost funny.. except people are suffering because of it.

Apparently you can. I'm nearly 35 and I still do not have an official diagnosis though I am pretty much a textbook case.
Getting a diagnosis depends on a number of factors, including the ability to put up a NT front, the presence or absence of significant impairment (by this I mean family or job troubles severe enough to warrant an evaluation) and, last but not least, the level of ASD awareness in the local medical community.

I am 44 and have just recently been diagnosed, so yes.... My dad is a textbook case aspie and has never been diagnosed.

^all the above bad experiences with so-called professionals^

I think this is where we need to take a page from the Civil Rights Movement and/or the Gay Rights Movement and form our own groups. And tell people loudly and clearly that different is not bad, that different is just different.

Forming self-advocacy groups will have a number of false starts and a hundred and one frustrations, but I think that's what's going to do the most good. And we'll get better at it with time. So I say, we just accept the natural learning process. And yes, professionals can join in and help, but they just can't run the show.