So I found out a few days ago...
Apparently my “diagonsis” was put in my IEP by a teacher without notifying my parents or doctor. The doctor apparently said I “didn’t have autism”. Okay then why do I have so many symptoms of it? I chew on my shirt collar and pencils if I don’t have something to chew on, I’m socially awkward irl to the point of being so mortified I’ll isolate myself from everyone else, I happy flap when I write a scene I’m proud of (I write as a hobby), I infodump for hours on end, when a song is catchy I start bouncing my knee and I’m pretty sure it’s a stim, I fidget without realizing, direct eye contact makes me EXTREMELY uncomfortable, I’m actually diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, I’m hyperempathetic, I’m hyperlexic, I don’t understand math AT ALL, I still can’t even do basic subtraction even though I’m a graduate of high school and I can remember 9000000000 things about something I’m actually interested in, the second I see something shiny I stare at it for several minutes because OMG SHINY THING, I can’t stand repetitive or too high pitched sounds and they make me want to punch someone, even if they’re not made by an actual living thing, I mostly can’t recognize someone’s face if they put a shit ton of makeup on or got a major haircut after I met them when they had none on, I identify peoples faces mostly by their eye shape, I tend to be impulsive, if I’m interested in one specific thing at the moment I hardly ever want to talk about anything else at all… I could go on and on and on. And sure I have symptoms of ADHD too like being easily distracted and being hyper, but I mean… do you think this stretches beyond something like that and it’s actually that I’m autistic or it’s something else? Or both? I know you’re not a doctor but from what I know doctors generally don’t know shit about autism unless they actually ARE autistic. Idk about the doctor who said I didnt have it but I don’t remember which doctor that was anyways. I just need some advice please??? -----------------------------------------------------------------------
Wow, that sucks majorly @wolfvalkyrie. What you’re experiencing sounds very similar to being autistic to me and I think you’re probably either autistic or an autistic cousin. Your doctor, unless they’re specifically taught to diagnose adult autism, is probably wrong IMO and definately an arsehole to not let you know properly. Autism, if not diagnosed before you’re at most 10 is very tricky to diagnose without specifically being taught to diagnose it in adults (since we tend to adapt in weird ways and most signs of autism in adults show up in very different ways depending on when the diagnosis was).
My advice would be: 1) Find a community of autistics. Most are pretty fine with allowing self dx autistics and autistic cousins in and they can help you find some help that you don’t need an IEP for. 2) Get a decent doctor and ask them for some help with getting a diagnosis. 3) Have a talk with your teacher about what was done with your IEP. Your parents should probably be with you for that I think. 4) Find a diagnostician who specialises in late diagnosis of autism. Try and get a second opinion on the dx- how to do this will depend on where you live.
Hope this helps ~ Admin Shadow
