SELF DIAGNOSIS

is valid. Here’s why”

I am tempted to simply write bullet points by number here, but there is too much in the details that might not be seen in just an “overview”. Typical of an autistic person, it is not just the ‘general idea’ but the details upholding that idea that are the meat and potato of the sweeping statement given by that bullet/number.

Our information base about autism is growing. Medicine and Science uncover new details and specifics about how autism works, how it functions, how people adapt and overcome its effects, and so much of that information is not found in the texts and school class lessons being given to the future doctors, nurses, analysts, supporting staff about autism. Autism even for neurologists and psychologists is only a couple paragraphs or at most a “chapter” presentation at school out of hundreds and hundreds of hours preparing those who will diagnose and serve the coming autistic generations.

Those who practice medicine, neurology, psychology, social work, and other supportive specialties are taught about autism from the perspective of an 8 year old child, what their behavior is likely to be, what the child’s perceptions are likely to be, and what the identifying factors to spot an autistic child in a classroom or your own examination table is likely to look like. Unfortunately for most of us, this autism symptoms/diagnostic model is based on a 5 year old male.

Those of us who are older will have gained many coping mechanisms and adapted behaviors due to pressures from families, friends, teachers, classmates, co workers, etc. As autistic people age they become less and less like that innocent little 8 year old.

Yet in the forums I attend online I see posts every day about misdiagnosis, autistic women and men being told that they speak and are eloquent, they make eye contact, they don’t walk on tiptoe, make odd intermittent noises, bounce or spin, nope, not autistic. Oh, you have a family or hold a job? You can’t possibly be autistic! You have social struggles and recognize that you are bullied and ostracised, you can not be autistic because autistic people don’t know they are being bullied. Doctors then say” It must be YOU and your bad behavior. YOU need counseling urgently to change your ways.” End result of this ignorance of autism: You are diagnosed as being bipolar, ADHD, Schizoid, Borderline, hysterical, anti social, passive aggressive, or more than one of those false diagnosis instead of as autistic. NOTE this does not mean that one can not also have diagnosis of one or more other conditions to struggle with. If you have been treated for any of these conditions over long periods of time with little or no success, consider the possibility that you may have autism instead.

This is more common than rare because so little has been known about autism and those attempting diagnosis have a fixed idea taught from their own youth in school maybe 15 to 30 years ago about what autism “is” and how it shows itself for diagnosis.
Most of those diagnosing people have never bothered to update their understanding of autism using todays information.

Using USA census statistics, from the Population Reference Bureau in Washington DC I have calculated that there are over 1,046,936 autistic people in the USA over age 65. Only half the baby boomers are now over 65, with the whole generation reaching over 65 in age by the year 2030. Population to support this group as it ages is shrinking and predicted that only 2 adults per senior citizen will be there for support of all kinds. This will mean shortages of workers for every field. Less support for medicine and research, less support for health care, less support for all the other things we rely on, who will grow the groceries, work in manufacturing, teach, run stores of all sorts considered service industries. Dynamics are changing quickly but we may not see this. Of the over a million autistic adults in the USA, how many will get recognized as autistic, get accommodations, get the help they need to succeed as they age? It is so important that the people in medical college in this and coming generations learn how to recognize and diagnose autism in senior citizens and even younger fully grown adults. There is a huge need for autism specialists of all kinds, and more will be needed by 2030. If you know somebody who is thinking about specializing, there is no greater need at the moment than for diagnosis and support of the autistic community.

Because actual professional diagnosis by professionals in practice today is so under prepared, under educated, and under experienced with autism, many must turn to the autistic community, to computer studies online, books by specialists in autism, and other resources to get good current information regarding autism, and especially how autism presents itself and acts in older adults. There is no shame in being self diagnosed. Frequently there are no other resources available due to the few diagnosing services available for the adult community. Most on line groups recognize this struggle as valid and are very supportive of those who find professional resources outside of their reach due to financial , location, and availablility considerations. Things may differ in other countries. I read reports from individuals about how it can be in other countries but have no personal knowledge of this information.
So, How do we set about self diagnosis? It can be done multiple ways.

You can take online tests and tests that have been developed in specialists books. You can join autistic forums and ask questions. There is probably a higher level of ready insights, actual experience, and information available on these forums with large numbers of members. The combined wisdom and experience and the empathetic treatment of those new to the idea of being autistic are powerful to experience, see, hear….

In earlier blogs I have worked through the Diagnostic Manual used for diagnosis of autism today and discussed what they are looking for in each section. Later I worked up a list of things we can examine in our own lives that might point to being autistic. If you have come so far as to reading blogs about diagnosis of autism in old folks, you probably already have a strong idea that you might be autistic. We are on the very edge of a dawning of the real way autism works in our lives, the nature of the autistic experience, how varied the ways autism presents itself. I hope for a better future for all of us who have remained undiagnosed, misunderstanding, self hating, struggling in so many ways when knowing your own diagnosis of autism will help find new ways of seeing, doing, and managing so many of the troubles that are now upon us. Lets see what we can do to speed the process along.