Hello

[Lydia_bc]

Hi everyone, I belong to a lovely women’s autism group on Facebook but since I deactivated FB I decided to seek other routes of communication online. Today my psychologist said he was putting in a referral to have me tested for autism, and I’m very excited but also very nervous. I hear that the tests they use are geared more towards the more stereotypically male presentation of autism so I’m worried about being missed.

I worry because autism would explain just about everything in my life from elementary school until now. Social embarrassment hurts, the misophonia sucks, the odd behaviors are masked (heaven forbid anyone think I seem ‘crazy’), my excitement can be obsessive, and I don’t want friends (acquaintances are nice) - just to name a few things that stand out to me.

I could ramble on about random things I’ve remembered about myself and I enjoy reading what others have noticed about themselves, too. Happy to be here!

 

[tree]

 

[Aspychata]

Welcome, it's nice to meet you.

 

[Skittlebisquit]

Hello. You might like to learn to use the search engine. It's kinda hard to see on a phone, but there must be a gazillion posts about autism in women. Many of the people here are female, the site mods are really nice too, I think they have a better search engine or just that they can use it better, idk. @tree is pretty fantastic

 

[VictorR]

Welcome!

 

[Barymore]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forum - I've found it a lovely place to hang out with wonderful people

I was worried about being missed during assessment too. I was masking so much that I felt I wouldnt be able not to / wouldnt know which version was the unmasked me to show (if such a thing actually exists in any social setting). Then, when I was great at recognising the facial emotions I thought that was it. But I did receive a clear diagnosis of ASD.

This has not just been the blessed confirmation I was expecting - there has been a whole process to accept that this is what it is, even though I was sure of it before hand.

Sounds like you are very worried about not receiving a diagnosis - what do you fear would happen if you didnt receive an official diagnosis? Many here are officially self-diagnosed.

Anyhow, welcome and see you around!

 

[Wolfsage]

Howdy.

 

[Thinx]

Hi and welcome, I hope that you enjoy it here. I recommend looking at Jessica Kingsley publishers catalogue for texts by women with Autism and clinicians, about women with Autism and how they may differ from the male profile. They usually discuss diagnosis.

I am self diagnosed, after plenty of relevant reading and good awareness of yourself and your issues, I actually don't think it's rocket science, especially if you find this a unifying explanation for your issues.

All this, however, doesn't mean one would get a diagnosis, for example one has to be not coping in some sense and by some this appears to be judged fairly much on whether you have work and other material aspects of wellbeing. There does seem to be varying levels of competence out there, too.

Personally, I don't think having a different neurology necessarily should always be a reason for a diagnosis, although because of the way society is structured as in, largely based on neurotypical assumptions, being in this minority is certainly difficult in certain ways.

 

[SusanLR]

Welcome!

You'll find plenty of posts describing different experiences here.
And anything you would like to ask please do.
We're always here to answer questions.

 

[Varzar]

Welcome to the forums Lydia!

 

[Amy Stone]

Hi Lydia! I'm new also. I wasn't formally diagnosed but I took all the online tests. I was (and still am) a bit freaked out about the results but more-so I am relieved. I no longer am trying to fit my square peg into a round hole.

 

[Lydia_bc]

Thank you all very much