It's definitely worth saying before I begin that, just like 'Allistics*', no two Autistics are the same, there's a saying in the Autistic community:
"If you've met an Autistic, you've met one Autistic"
If I had £1 every time someone told me they know about Autism because 'Cousin Jimmy is Autistic' I would be worrying about submitting a+++++ tax bill!
This blog and compilation of information is based on my own personal experiences and the aim is to offer an Actually Autistic person's perspective and bridge a gap. I was diagnosed late, at 38 years of age, after 25 years of being in the Psychiatric system with varying and temporary diagnoses from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder to Psychosis.
Every time I had a Psychiatry appointment it was a different Doctor and they would revoke the diagnosis the previous Doctor had given me. The only diagnosis which continued for any length of time was EUPD - Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder (known also as BPD - Borderline Personality Disorder) which had been applied while I had been in an inpatient setting and when the routines were suddenly changed I had found it difficult to adapt but to be fair, these days it seems every person who self-harms is labelled with EUPD and it has easily been the single most unhelpful diagnosis I have ever had; and it was incorrect.
No one had ever undertaken a thorough assessment and in trying to find help for my middle child (a girl) from a young age, first asking the Health Visitor for support and then, as she got older, SENCo's and headteachers with my mum saying:
"There's nothing wrong with her, she's just like you were at that age"
My daughter was diagnosed Autistic a decade after first starting to seek help for her. Six months later, I was assessed and was also diagnosed Autistic.
I had a fight with my local NHS Trust to get this diagnosis accepted, however, as the most recent psychiatrist I had seen had refused to refer for Autism assessment and was adamant that 'in her opinion, a person who is Autistic would not know that they were Autistic.' I ran this comment past my other 'enlightened' female Autistic friends and have never seen them laugh so much, so I paid to see a top UK specialist for assessing potentially Autistic women because I had to know the outcome was accurate.
The aforementioned Psychiatrist was so cross with the diagnosis and still adamant that I would not know I was Autistic that she tried to get her superiors to believe that I was so deluded that I had suffered an enduring personality change!
Needless to say the Trust did actually accept my diagnosis once they met with me and realised I was of 'sound mind' and they also did some research into who had undertaken the assessment and were satisfied it was thorough and concluded it was accurate.
The Journey begins.....
*Allistic - Anyone who is not Autistic
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