Comments | asperger: sorta new and looking for resources for undiagnosed adults

eriktrips in asperger

sorta new and looking for resources for undiagnosed adults

Jun 12, 2009 14:16

I haven't introduced myself since joining a couple of weeks ago so I thought I should say hi at the same time that I ask for some help in finding diagnostic services as an adult. I'm Erik and I'm 47 years old and a female-to-male transsexual living in San Francisco CA. My real work is writing but I only get paid for editing, currently. I do all my ( Read more... )

disability, writing, depression, gender, formal diagnosis, work, telephones, username: em - ez, ptsd

Comments 29

teamnoir June 12 2009, 21:27:14 UTC

Hello. And welcome.

I'm not diagnosed, either professionally nor self. Rather, I'm self-identified, a process I daresay you probably already know something about.

To my knowledge, diagnoses are primarily useful for finding government support and/or school or work accommodations. I don't know much about seeking accommodations, but others around here do and that might be useful to you.

Aside from that, the biggest reason for diagnosis in adults seems to be validation. There's not much in the way of professional help available, aside from traditional councilling and/or tranquilizers. There are some other drugs in use, although their efficacy seems to be in question. Others around here can probably tell you more.

eriktrips June 12 2009, 23:34:01 UTC

I'm mostly looking to see how/whether a diagnosis would affect my disability case; and although I don't know if the federal or state governments care that I've been dysfunctional my entire life, the city of San Francisco might actually have more for me than some other parts of the US might ( ... )

Hi! old_cutter_john June 12 2009, 21:39:21 UTC

Welcome to the community1 If you're autistic, you're autistic. You don't have to prove it. You don't need a formal diagnosis for us. And we welcome neurotypicals as members, if they're friendly.

As to the rest of it, I have no idea. My wife is a clinical social worker here in Nevada and she'll diagnose any adult autistic whom she recognizes as autistic. Not you, because her licensing board would view that as an ethical conflict. So it goes. Other members of this community have put varying amounts of time, effort and money into pursuing formal diagnoses, with varying degrees of success. Rumor has it that California is no longer offering the same sort of benefits to autistics that it offers to people with comparable disabilities because there are too many of us and it was proving too expensive. You might want to check that out before investing heavily in a diagnosis.

Re: Hi! eriktrips June 12 2009, 23:38:01 UTC

Thanks. One reason I want to check out the Golden Gate Regional Center is that San Francisco itself is a bit better with the social safety net than are other parts of the state. I would of course like to get whatever I can out of the federal government, but this is the US and I don't expect much since I'm not particularly "productive" in the usually accepted sense.

In any case, I can't actually afford to invest anything except time; I don't have any money with which to approach private institutions. It's been suggested to me that I try Stanford, but gods only know how much money they'd want. I have less than none.

idiotgrrl June 12 2009, 22:09:33 UTC

I take you seriously. Check out the MIND Center at UCDavis, or ask at UCSF if they have any referrals for you. I know someone in the business but she specializes in OCD and is busy planning her mid-July wedding in Costa Rica. However, if UCSF has a specialist in OCD< they surely have one in autism.

eriktrips June 12 2009, 23:38:59 UTC

Thanks. I will check both of them out.

bender12 June 12 2009, 22:34:25 UTC

oh i know i am going to catch sooooo much hell for posting this but here ya go
its an online aspie quiz that is actually fairly accurate
http://www.rdos.net/eng/Aspie-quiz.php

ok now the disclaimer its about the only resource i know of and i personally think its a good one, if ya dont like it please be kind and not jump down my throat like some communities will

old_cutter_john June 12 2009, 22:42:23 UTC

Those things can be entertaining. They can even be right. Sometimes someone finds a new one and a whole bunch of us try it out. Most of us aren't much bothered by such quizzes regardless. (In case this particular quiz turns out to be really outrageous, I should state that despite the duties incumbent upon me as a community moderator, I didn't even follow the link. If there's a need, someone will let me know.)

old_cutter_john June 12 2009, 22:49:55 UTC

Oh, yeah! A hint that I credit to teamnoir: If you're old and well-adapted, take the quiz twice. Answer once as you are now and answer once as you would have when you were twenty. eriktrips doesn't describe himself as well-adapted, but other people will try the quiz who are.

eriktrips June 12 2009, 23:45:36 UTC

I think I've taken this one. I scored "probably an Aspie." Not sure of the degree of certainty behind that "probably."

I was well-adapted as long as I was in school, funded, and not having a psychiatric meltdown. Let's see--that was from about 1993-97. At 20 things were bad; things are different now but paradoxically perhaps my overcoming all my dysfunctional adaptations through psychotherapy has made it much harder to get along in "normal" society as I get older. It's like I get worse as I get better, if that makes sense. I think it's that I am becoming more aware of who I was underneath all the trauma, and that person was not typical to begin with. Surprise! Well, not really.

Thread 12

errantpenny June 13 2009, 00:31:10 UTC

Hi and welcome. I'm also in San Francisco, and I wish I had a good assessment resource for you. However, I can tell you about one place that I emphatically don't recommend: Bay Area Psychological Testing Associates, http://www.bapta.com. I went there when I first sought an assessment. As far as I can tell, there's only one neuropsychologist on staff, and she does the assessments. Like a lot of professionals, I think she applied a narrow, rigid set of criteria to me--and a set that's more applicable to children--and determined that I wasn't autistic. I made eye contact, had no flat affect, etc.

I have a diagnosis of AS from the clinical psychologist whom I see for weekly psychotherapy. Unfortunately, I don't think he's accepting new patients. Would the professional whom you see for psychotherapy be able to diagnose you? It might be an option.

I understand why other adults with AS have no interest in or need for a diagnosis. I'm really glad I have one, though.

the validation of ( ... )

eriktrips June 13 2009, 08:51:41 UTC

I guess that I don't have much confidence in my own opinions, so even though it seemed that AS fit me very well, I was worried that I was wrong about it.Yeah that is very much my predicament right now. My therapist thinks that it makes a certain amount of sense but I get the feeling that she does not think she is qualified to make an "official" diagnosis. She is not a psychologist but an MFT/MEd; she is no fool but is not a neurologist nor yet a "doctor" (I'm a doctor. Can I diagnose myself? Rhetorically..?). She is trying to help me to find resources in the Bay Area but honestly I cannot even afford to pay her right now. She is seeing me on credit. So I don't feel right in asking her to do a whole lot of detective work for me ( ... )