What is the name of that circle diagram in my signature below as I want to tell the assessor who thinks I am not autistic that I keep getting autistic scores on it.
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Can anyone here read body language and facial expressions
- Thread starter Gift2humanity
- Start date
kettenkrad
Member
It's from this article here -
This Graphic Shows What the Autism Spectrum Really Looks Like
All I can suggest is that you
1. Register a formal complaint that you think that the assessor is using clinically irrelevant or obsolete criteria
2. That you think the interviewer has conducted the interview incompetently. Eg re. your ability to read expressions, has he made any attempt to distinguish between an effort-free intuitive ability and a cognitive one that will lead to burnout if used for long periods?
3. That you present a list of the problems that you have and ask him to score you on each or provide a written explanation of why they are not relevant to a diagnosis - so you can challenge him later. Include examples of your behaviour for each one.
Basically, you need to prepare the ground for questioning his decision - there is always a higher level to go to - and to make it awkward and risky for him to be ignore points. You might want to submit a note saying something like
"I answer questions EXTREMELY literally. So eg when the interviewer asked if I can read facial expressions I said yes - but this is because I learned to as a deliberate skill, it is NOT intuitive for me. Doing so costs me a great deal of effort and results in headaches and depression and I can only do it for a limited time. With this extra information, would the assessor agree this consistent with autism? If not, why not? (And I do think that questions like this need to be phrased more carefully in the future because of the tendency of autistic people to answer with extreme literalness!)"
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Hi and thanks for the graphics. I don't quite understand the concentric circles, but if it was interactive I could.
I said a lot of untrue things as I was using street drugs when assessed and they compromised the assessment. He knew I was on them.
I like your idea of burnout, he mentioned intellect and intuition and said there must be "some other explanation" for my difficulties and I am writing that some other explanation is not good enough, but in better words.
I have included examples of my behaviour but it makes a letter very long as I have written my letter in the order he wrote his and his letter was eight pages long.
I scored 168 in the RAADS score and 16 in the EQ which is consistent with ADHD according to him but also consistent with ASD. He suggests I have ADHD I do, not diagnosed, as funding got cut before I could go and see the ADHD psychiatrist, after seeing the nurse and I had postponed the appointment as I wanted to go sober and couldn't face it that day. Funding got cut in the time between me postponing and them writing to me. When they wrote to me, the ADHD nurse said I sounded scripted almost like I want a diagnosis, I cant keep still, easily distracted and feel I have both conditions.
With masking I have done it for so long I don't even know I am doing it, I started doing it in toddlerhood when my abusive dad called me Wendy weirdo.
PS I meant the hexagonal graphic in my signature line, I want to know what its called so I can mention it in my letter to assessor thanks
I tend to be easily fooled at first. I can't tell when someone is lying straight away. (Unless what they're saying is absurd.) I need time to learn their behavior and spot inconsistencies... that can take far longer than I would like it to.
I'm similar. I don't have 'super-hearing;' my hearing is no better than the average person of my age, but I tend to notice sounds more, ie that my brain pays attention to them and doesn't filter them out as most people do.
There was an incident at work a good few years ago, when my boss called me into her office and suggested that I have a hearing test. The reason? Apparently, people speak to me, and I don't respond and don't seem to hear what they say. This got me a bit worried and made me consciously aware of how I was hearing things, but it quickly became apparent that the problem was not that I don't hear things enough, but rather the opposite, I hear too much. So when a person speaks to me, I fail to separate it out from the background noise and don't realise that I'm being spoken to. I have difficulty with audio processing, mild APD perhaps, and this can cause me problems. I can't filter out background with the same ease that most people can, and pick up on a lot going on around me.
We have a lighting fixture that buzzes a lot. Both me and my partner can hear this. The difference is that it bugs me, but it doesn't bother him at all, because he can just tune it out.
Ah, the sounds people can ignore... The same thing happens to me with electricity - there's especially one screen at the house that makes a constant buzzing noise. I always turn it off, otherwise I can't focus or sleep. It sounds almost painful, actually. You know how hedgehogs 'grow spikes' when threatened? This is what it feels like my brain is doing at some background noises. Simply can't ignore them.
Yeah it's difficult.
Facial expression & body language are pretty hit-or-miss for me. I pick up more things in somebody's voice; like a vocal attitude.
Some years ago, I had neurological testing which included an IQ test. The doctor told me that I had a good score, but he presented it as if he were telling me that my dog had died. His tone was very contradictory to his message. In school, there would have been a little more fanfare. (I figured later that he had some self-esteem issues and no experience with gifted patients; a bad combination.)
Some years ago, I had neurological testing which included an IQ test. The doctor told me that I had a good score, but he presented it as if he were telling me that my dog had died. His tone was very contradictory to his message. In school, there would have been a little more fanfare. (I figured later that he had some self-esteem issues and no experience with gifted patients; a bad combination.)
kettenkrad
Member
That's an RDOS diagram.
Thank you.
kettenkrad
Member
You should also make the point that women mask autism much more and ask how he is compensating for this. Read eg
https://www.tiimoapp.com/blog/art-of-masking-women-with-autism/
It is the same with me. I can feel if something is off. In fact, I think we are more perceptive than neurotypicals sometimes when it comes to this.
Thanks, I mentioned "Tony Attwood" a leading expert, do you think that the assessor will be insulted by me saying this?
I also want to mention temple grandin.
PS just read article, I can resonate with that.
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I can only see people's deep emotions. What I cannot read is facial communication. I have a hard time understanding cues until a person is stressed out, then I know something is wrong. There is a disapproval face that "NT" people make that almost causes me physical pain.
I generally do not feel pain looking into eyes. When I do that, most men feel threatened and most women get turned on and attracted... so I try to avoid looking into eyes. I have decided now that I will only look into the eyes of people like me who I call primals. They get my energy.
I am pretty odd for an aspie. Actually I am probably ASD-2 (from my speech and walking delays) but I have extreme ADHD which seems to balance that out... I look NT to most NTs until they get to know me pretty well. They never believe me that I am on the spectrum. They certainly think I am reading their faces.
I generally do not feel pain looking into eyes. When I do that, most men feel threatened and most women get turned on and attracted... so I try to avoid looking into eyes. I have decided now that I will only look into the eyes of people like me who I call primals. They get my energy.
I am pretty odd for an aspie. Actually I am probably ASD-2 (from my speech and walking delays) but I have extreme ADHD which seems to balance that out... I look NT to most NTs until they get to know me pretty well. They never believe me that I am on the spectrum. They certainly think I am reading their faces.
It is a good idea to make sure s/he is familiar with Wing, Grandin, Attwood, etc. Those who stop at Kanner are woefully behind the times (and are quacks).
Severity levels are based on one's current severity evaluation.* They can stay the same, improve or get worse. If your speech & walking are okay, now, and you have no other severe co-morbids, you are, now, ASD1. You will always be autistic, but not everyone is stuck with their severe co-morbids for life.
*That was one of the problems with the autism diagnoses on the DSM-4.
I have no problems looking into people's eyes, either. I have had to train myself not to do so.
And yes, people seem to have a problem with it, in my case.
Half the new men I meet think I am gay, and half the new women think I am trying to "crack onto them".
Most people I told I was on the spectrum didn't believe me, and some tried to reassure me that I shouldn't put myself down for saying it.
lolDoes anyone *here* think I am *not* an aspie?
If so, go to the naughty corner and think about what you have done.
Hi
Hope you're not offended by my funny emojiI have no problems looking into people's eyes, either. I have had to train myself not to do so.
And yes, people seem to have a problem with it, in my case.
Half the new men I meet think I am gay, and half the new women think I am trying to "crack onto them".
Why would I be?
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