What I'm looking for in diagnosis
There are some things I want help with:
1) I want to figure out whether I can learn to drive safely, and if I can, I want help doing it. Because I don’t think I can do it in the standard way — I need to develop coping strategies.
2) I’m in a people-oriented profession, and there are skills I want to develop without losing other skills. I think if there are professional people who are cluefull about such things, I could really use their advice.
3) I want to be able to rely on having a laptop in classes when I need one, and not ever having to write anything out longhand.
4) I want to be able to talk about issues of inclusion and respect. I want to be able to be open about who I am. I want to be confident that I am using the right words, and I don’t want to be dismissed as not-really-autistic. I don’t want to be afraid that I deserve to be and that I’m appropriating a word that isn’t mine.
5) I want to keep taking medications that help me, even if I no longer need them for what they were originally prescribed to treat.
Does getting clinically evaluated for autism help with any of that?
Getting a clinical evaluation could help with some of these things.
1) I want to figure out whether I can learn to drive safely, and if I can, I want help doing it. Because I don’t think I can do it in the standard way — I need to develop coping strategies.
This depends entirely on where you get your driver training and what you can afford or what your insurance will pay for. If you are getting training through a public school or university, they are required to give you accommodations if you have a diagnosis. An autism life coach could help you, if you can afford it or your insurance will pay for it. If you can find an autistic friend who can drive and is willing to mentor you can provide the same help, but a diagnosis won’t help there.
2) I’m in a people-oriented profession, and there are skills I want to develop without losing other skills. I think if there are professional people who are cluefull about such things, I could really use their advice.
An autism life coach could help you here too, if you can afford it or your insurance will pay for it. There also might be government job training services that could help, but these are extremely rare.
3) I want to be able to rely on having a laptop in classes when I need one, and not ever having to write anything out longhand.
This is the easiest one, if you have a diagnosis. This falls under “reasonable accommodations” that most schools are used to giving out now.
4) I want to be able to talk about issues of inclusion and respect. I want to be able to be open about who I am. I want to be confident that I am using the right words, and I don’t want to be dismissed as not-really-autistic. I don’t want to be afraid that I deserve to be and that I’m appropriating a word that isn’t mine.
This one is both really easy and really hard with an official diagnosis. With an official diagnosis, you have protected legal status as a disabled person. Unfortunately, your legal status will not matter to a jerk. It does help, but it is no guarantee that people will treat you with respect. Try not to let the occasional jerk keep you from appreciating the people who really want to help.
5) I want to keep taking medications that help me, even if I no longer need them for what they were originally prescribed to treat.
This one depends on if you can find a doctor that understands autism and is willing to treat you with respect. A official diagnosis from another professional will often help with a doctor, but it depends on the person.
Overall, a clinical diagnosis can be a useful tool, but it is not a panacea. An awful lot also depends on what services are available in your local area and what the local attitudes are. The good news is that things ARE getting better, but there is still a long way to go.
John Mark McDonald
