Aspies For Freedom

So Im curious to know if theres a skew among aspie women towards self-diagnosis or professional diagnosis.

Why?

Also, I think there should be an option up there if we've been diagnosed out of our own will.

I was diagnosed when I was 6. If I had my way with my present thoughts, I wouldn't be diagnosed in the first place. Having a diagnosis on your head may cause employment/college application problems. And you never know when they might pass an act in the future that says that all autistic people must be kept in institutions or something awful like that.

That's odd, because men (in general, not singling out Aspergians) are less social than women, so I think it would be easier to spot an Aspergian woman than an Aspergian man.

Meiyolin:
It's significant because AS shows up differently in many women, and we may well be underdiagnosed because the cultural and biological differences in our temperaments make AS look different.

... Professionally dx / Self dx...

I'm something in between.

I hardly knew anything about autism until I was in my mid-twenties, but I must have been aware of it to some degree because around the age of 15 I would occasionally read books by autistic people (Birger Sellin's in particular, I suspect I must have read something in a magazine and then secretly - like I did with most my interests - got the books in the library), and around that time I had come to the conclusion that I was "semi-autistic". I don't think I ever told anyone though (because I wouldn't, especially around that time I still hardly talked to people anyway unless I really really had to or I was rambling about my interests).

I referred myself to a neurologist in 2003 for an examination for ADD, and there I was diagnosed as having "attentional dysfunction" and suspected of having an ASD. I wasn't at all surprised, and had become aware of autism again not too long before that, but I hadn't really expected to hear that (although I did choose this neruologist - sadly now deceased - because he diagnoses and recognises a variety of neurological differences, rather than JUST looking at possible AD/HD) at all. After all, I had already decided I could only be "semi" autistic, and hadn't mentioned any of that either in the material I had submitted or during the appointment with the consultant!

I was then referred to a lady who has retired from full-time practice but has diagnosed and worked with people on all levels of the autistic spectrum for many decades (Mary Myers in Sheffield, [url=http://www.as-if.org.uk/index.htm]this young lady was also diagnosed by her).

Although the referral was originally meant more as a "maybe you can see her once a month or so" dealy, when I started talking to Mary by Email she quickly said that she would assess me, first based on whatever material I could provide in written form (saving time at the appointment) and then in person. I forwarded her a ton of written stuff that I had originally prepared for the neurologist, and added to it some material (esp. on sensory stuff which to be honest I had always assumed & been told by my parents was what everyone had) that I had written straight after my preliminary diagnosis.

We Emailed for about a month (she had been away for a month around the time of my referral) and then I went to see her at the end of January 2004 for about two hours, after which she told me there was no doubt I had AS/HFA (it's a shame she doesn't distinguish, but she compared me more to 'well known' people who are autistic rather than Aspies). A few weeks later I got my written report.

That is very similar to how it was for me, it's kind of weird how sometimes autism *isn't* picked up because you are withdrawn and quiet (unless talking about interests etc.), isn't it? I mean you'd think that would be a bit of a clue, right?

Well first was self-dx'd, then was officially/unofficially dx (aka not on medical/mental health records) but by a professional and now just going about putting it on the records.

ner... Im a self diagnosed ADHD, but im sure it wouldn't be all that difficult to get a real diagnosis.

Somewhere in-between.  It came up on multiple occasions while I was seeking help for anxiety, but I've never had the money to pursue an official on-paper diagnosis since then(I can't believe how expensive it is!).  I can hold a job okay, so I will probably wait until it's not a huge hardship before going back to finish the process.

I definitely think female aspies are more often overlooked.

It's money's way of telling you, if you pass off as NT, you will get the privileges of an NT.

Perhaps it doesn't work that way for everyone.

I have been 'officially' described as presenting with traits of ASD by my local mental health team, and my GP has now referred me to a specialist adult team for a proper assessment.

I don't know whether it is true of all women on the spectrum, but from what I have read, from my own experience and from talking to a few other women on the spectrum, I think women/girls present very differently to men/boys.

I think very many women on the spectrum become expert in 'pretending to be normal'. I also wonder whether it is easier for women to 'hide' because (in my experience anyway) you can get quite a long way if you are 'fey/kooky/etc' if you also happen to be young and relatively attractive.

Unfortunately for me after doing it for the majority of my adult life, I found that pretending to be normal was unsustainable.

If you live in the UK, Simon Baron-Cohen's CLASS is now free to patients and GPs, as they have charitable funding. You do still need a GP referral.

See here:

http://www.autismresearchcenter.com/clinical/class.asp

I wrote about my difficulties under these headings: Family Background, Social, Emotional, Physical and Work. It came to about 4 pages. I gave it to my local mental health team, and it has been forwarded to CLASS along with my report from the mental health team.

The National Autistic Society has a good guide to adult dx:

http://www.nas.org.uk/nas/jsp/polopoly.j...045&a=3341

I think being female made it harder to get an official diagnosis, especially as I didn't meet enough criteria for an autism diagnosis. Growing up, nobody knew Asperger's existed, there was just classic autism. I wasn't officially diagnosed until I was 28, and even then, I didn't meet all of the criteria.