Today, I asked if my psychiatrist would test me for autism, as I believe I may have it. His response? "You probably don't. Stay off social media once in a while." Well fuck me for wanting a professional opinion I guess. FML
Collection
Halloween
A failed costume, stolen candy and a very real scare: Halloween, the one night when fear is allowed.
Today, I asked my father if it was okay for me to take an ADHD test. He spent about 30 minutes yelling at as to why that is a dumb idea. I have asked multiple people who know me better than anyone else and they believe that I might have ADHD. FML
Today, my therapist mentioned we should look into the possibility of me being autistic. When telling my boyfriend what she'd said, he replied, “I don’t think you’re autistic, just damaged.” FML
Today, I finally got the results of months of extensive psychological testing to determine why I did so well in my course but performed so terribly on the job. Turns out I'm autistic. FML
Today, a guy at work pulled me aside to tell me that I probably shouldn't be working a job where I have to interact with customers, because of my autism. I don't have autism. FML
Today, my dad went to the doctor to find out if he is autistic. When we walked in, the doctor asked why he wasn't testing if he was diabetic, effectively calling my dad fat. My dad was deeply offended, so I gave that jackass doctor an earful. But as it turns out, he was correct. My dad does have diabetes. FML
Today, my husband is furious with me for going behind his back and getting our son a psychological evaluation. His primary care physician, a psychologist, and a pediatric psychiatrist all agree that our son is AuDHD. My husband says no because he “doesn’t believe in that crap.” FML
Today, I tried to explain autism to my classmates. One of them, a professional cunt who's always looking for an excuse to lecture people, accused me of being "ableist" because my explanations weren't accurate, and said I shouldn't explain things I don't understand. I'm actually autistic. FML
Today, I got to endure another "fun" team-building personality test. Like usual, it said I was defensive and using a belief that I can't follow conversations. I literally can't due to auditory processing issues. My coworkers keep assuring me it's safe to open up. Fuck psychology. FML
Today, my dad has officially started testing to find out if he is autistic. I'm happy for him defying the "too old" stigma; however, the problem is that I am autistic as well, and my dad can be a rather unpleasant person at times, so I'm afraid he'll give the disorder a bad name and make both of our lives worse. FML
Today, my father is strongly trying to convince me not to have kids because "autism runs strong" in my husband's family, and he’ll be damned if any grandchild of his is subnormal because what would the neighbours think, and he couldn’t invite his colleagues to our family barbecues anymore. FML
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Top comments
vchan 20
Two scenarios here: - he is not professional enough, and doesn’t want to listen to you. - he is a very good professional and knows, from your previous interactions, that you do not have the profile and wants to avoid wasting your time and money. (And that maybe you have instead a problem with social media, but it’s above FML’s grade)
Blimix 9
Official diagnosis can be hard to get, and self diagnosis is valid. Getting a therapist who understands autism is a crapshoot, because therapists are not trained in what autism really is: The official diagnostic criteria are mostly a list of trauma symptoms, because living in this world is especially traumatic for Autistic people. Most therapists couldn't recognize an Autistic person with coping skills. ASAN and AWN are good organizations. Avoid Autism $peaks: It's a fearmongering hate group.
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Comments (7)
Anderling 33
Any chance of switching to someone who’ll give your thoughts actual concern instead of immediately dismissing you because blah blah social media evil? If possible, for sure give a heads-up to his superior.
vchan 20
Two scenarios here: - he is not professional enough, and doesn’t want to listen to you. - he is a very good professional and knows, from your previous interactions, that you do not have the profile and wants to avoid wasting your time and money. (And that maybe you have instead a problem with social media, but it’s above FML’s grade)
Blimix 9
Official diagnosis can be hard to get, and self diagnosis is valid. Getting a therapist who understands autism is a crapshoot, because therapists are not trained in what autism really is: The official diagnostic criteria are mostly a list of trauma symptoms, because living in this world is especially traumatic for Autistic people. Most therapists couldn't recognize an Autistic person with coping skills. ASAN and AWN are good organizations. Avoid Autism $peaks: It's a fearmongering hate group.
Blimix 9
The online "Are you autistic?" quizzes are problematic, but better than nothing. Basically, anything diagnostic that focuses on how Autistic people affect those around them, rather than the actual experience of being Autistic, will often miss the mark. You could look through the checklist of Autistic experiences at blimix.com/autistic/ and see how many of those are familiar. The autism subreddit is often better for sympathy than for answers, but occasionally you'll find something helpful. Good luck.
RichardPencil 32
Why? Do you want to be autistic? If it's so borderline that your psychiatrist doesn't see it, you'd be better off having it go undiagnosed.
tiptoppc 21
Want mine? I don’t define myself by my label. It just opened my eyes to see why i do things the way i do, where to spot shortcomings, and how to compensate. Most people can’t tell, especially since I was beaten in a mental health ward for not looking people in the eyes or “talk about my feelings.” It’s a label, nothing more, it won’t change anything, and if you think you have it, assume you do, re-evaluate how you interact with others and challenge yourself to improve yourself daily. I got my “label” (Asperger’s Syndrome) back in 1999. It’s not real useful except put a name to ideosynchracies, and showed me what to work on. I wouldn’t trade it for anything though. It has shown me how to look from other people’s eyes how i’m perceived as, and let me be super freaking awesomely talented in the IT field. Even got me a nice paying just with a company that just bricked a bunch of printers (i work in commercial support of things that cost more than cars), where i get paid to drive, see things no one else gets to see, and have awesome customers and the right amount of interaction and low stress. Been recognised for my skills, and am happy at work and home!
reetuuw 3
I have autism and I haven’t been officially diagnosed, other than I have ADD/adhd. You will learn more about yourself as time goes on, maybe official diagnose is not needed.
lilacgold 16
A lot of doctors just don't take autism seriously at all, especially if you've learnt to mask well enough to pass as "normal" and/or most of your challenges are in the less visible traits (executive dysfunction/sensory challenges for example, rather than eye contact/social skills). Same with ADHD - if you're not hyperactive and disruptive and you're capable of getting stuff done eventually, they tend not to care that it's a daily battle to maintain focus and do the functional things (housework, cooking etc) instead of the whole day vanishing on nothing in particular. It is possible to significantly improve quality of life by basically just assuming you have the condition in question if the symptoms really resonate with your experience - looking at lists of tips/hacks from folks who are further on in their journey of adapting their life to better fit how their brain functions and adopting those that make sense has helped me a ton. I'd probably still be better off with a diagnosis more formal than a bunch of screening tests (supplied by my work, not random searching), an occupational health assessment that recommended formal testing and an informal assessment from my aunt (a qualified psychiatrist - she couldn't give an official diagnosis because of the family connection), but it's better than nothing.