gmboy

This has been done for other topics. It sounds like a good idea. One such facility for creating this online is as a miniwiki (as in miniature wikipedia site). I probably wouldn't have time to contribute to it, but I support the idea. A possible drawback of something that could be edited by lots of people is that if there is a difference if opinion on wording or the whole definition that could cause difficulties. On the other hand, you needn't set it up in Wikipedia style. It could be a website and if people want to add to it then they could submit something for review before it's added to the site.

That's great to hear. Getting As in maths - sounds like he's found a real strength there. I hope the job benefits him and that the lack of pay is not a sign of exploitation. Keep on dancing!

I'm not clear what help you are looking for. The brief points you have typed are, to my awareness, consistent with ASD, but presumably you know that and that's why you included them in your message, rather than other aspects of you. If you *always* think people are upset with you (presumably including times when people are not upset with you?) then perhaps you are not reading people as well as you think. It's hard to know from a brief online interaction, but then that's what your assessment is for in 8 days' time. If it's ASD that is "going on" then your imminent assessment is surely a good place for it to be identified. I'm not familiar with Clinical Partners. Good luck getting through the next 8 days (and beyond). I guess that the uncertain nature of the waiting will make it a difficult time for you, however it will soon be over - only 8 days out of your whole life, so do whatever you need to to reduce the anxiety and keep going. If there are any practicalities that you are unsure of then I guess the clinic would be able to answer these. And if you have practical or other questions then if you pose them then hopefully someone will respond with their thoughts or own experiences.

Psychiatrists (who are qualified medical doctors) and Clinical Psychologists. That's what I understand. Some services carry out assessments as part of a 'multi-disciplinary team' which could involve people of different professions e.g. Speech and Language Therapist, Occupational Therapist, other types of Psychologist. A multi-disciplinary approach is recommended in NICE guidelines, although I understand that in my area most adults are diagnosed via the community mental health team after 1 or 2 appointments. With the multi-disciplinary approach there would usually be a discussion among the team of professionals to share their professional opinions and try to reach agreement on whether to diagnose and whether any further referrals or support will be offered. I'm not familiar with children's services, but I think that they would also ask for input from the school. It just depends on which service you go to as to how it's organised and who actually provides the diagnosis. If there's an autism charity in your local area I would anticipate them knowing the local arrangements for assessment and diagnosis, relevant to your situation.

If he sticks by his decision not to come that would be a way of testing things out - how he gets on with day to day life on his own and how you get on having time away from him. I hope you enjoy your holiday, whatever he decides.

Hi Paula, it sounds like all the years of getting on with things as well as you can have now caught up with you, causing you stress, pain and tears. In my council area only people assessed as being in urgent or critical need of support actually get anything. It sounds like you reached the urgent/critical stage, so even if your local council is restricting support like mine is hopefully you will get things put in place. It's good that you've been able to post here to express how things are, and that you've been in contact with the council for support. In addition to your council, is there a carers organisation in your area which could support you? All the best with getting a better situation for all your family.

Hi Andy, Welcome to the forum. I'm glad that you are feeling so positive about your family member saying she thinks you have ASD. I see from your profile that you have lots of interests. From those you have listed the two I enjoy most are walking and documentaries. I also like learning about new things and that is part of the reason I decided to go back to studying. Gmboy

Thanks for the link. The 'Checklist of Common Workplace Challenges' in the download is useful.

I used to have a cat, which was great for me. I have been twice to the cat cafe nearest to me. I was sad for the cats the first time I went, especially seeing one other visitor who was pestering the cats even when they were walking away from her, reading them more as objects than as unique beings. So I have mixed feelings about cat cafes. As a former cat owner it is a different relationship with a cat cafe cat than with your own cat. I think I enjoy the idea of the cat cafe me than the experience, but if other people enjoy it that's ok. And it's good that this business owner is offering free sessions to people who could benefit more than most customers by visiting.

There is no Parts for Sale Forum that I have seen here. Autism doesn't consist of any any "parts for sale". Another intrusion. And a hack too, perhaps, since my direct challenge to you yesterday in the adults only section has disappeared.

There was an interesting blog today on a section of the British Psychological Society's website https://digest.bps.org.uk/2017/02/24/theres-such-a-thing-as-autism-camouflaging-and-it-might-explain-why-some-people-are-diagnosed-so-late/about camouflaging of autistic traits and how this is related to late diagnosis of autism. Ok, so it's not an original idea, but it is recent research and it looks into some possible variable factors such as make/female gender, which I found interesting. You can also get the whole research article for free at http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1362361316671012?url_ver=Z39.88-2003&rfr_id=ori:rid:crossref.org&rfr_dat=cr_pub%3dpubmed . This page has the abstract and references, and there is a link to download the whole article as a pdf if you want to.

I found out today about a free conference called Naidex. Although at first glance it appears mainly to do with physical disabilities, there are 2 talks by the person who started up Stickman Communications, which I have seen a few autistic people saying they fund helpful. This is the website for the conference http://www.naidex.co.ukand it is Birmingham on 28-30th March. I don't know enough about it to have an opinion about the conference. Nevertheless, there is the link if anyone wants to look into it more.

Some of you will be aware of the recent news that the UK government have "clarified" (or rather changed) the rules about the mobility component of PIP, so that new applicants cannot get it for mental health reasons, only physical health reasons. An Early Day Motion was started by an MP, Tim Farron. At total of 58 MPs have signed it so far. You can see the list of signatories at http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/business-papers/commons/early-day-motions/edm-detail1/?edmnumber=985&session=2016-17 If your MPs name isn't listed as a signatory you could contact them and ask them to sign. If you do this it can be more persuasive if you can give a short explanation of how the change affects you (or people you know), or how it could affect you in the future.

First of all, sorry to hear that university has been such a struggle for you. University accommodation is notoriously noisy. Any kind of response from the university would most likely be from using their complaints process. I think it unlikely that you would receive and reimbursement of fees. You should receive some kind of response if you were to make an official complaint, but that would not definitely include an apology. I am not sure how long ago you left the university. If you have stopped attending, yet are still officially registered, you could get some guidance around complaining from the student support department of the students' union (but it may have a different name, as each students' union varies). Another option would be to contact Citizens' Advice or an advocacy service to help you if you want to complain. You would be wise to consider whether it is worth complaining. If you are still finding life difficult now you could find that complaining takes up what little energy you have and may not result in a response that you are satisfied with. Stopping university this time sounds like a wide decision for the sake of your health. Apart from anything, the disability service sounds disorganised. I wonder if the staff member who left suddenly couldn't cope with the place because it was not running efficiently. If you ever decide to study again, it could be that distance learning is better for you, or just that another university organises their teaching in a way that suits you better. Living at home, or finding your own place rather than sharing with students (especially first years) would give you more control over your home environment and meals. Some universities have funding to help mature students. All the best.

There is a page on the motability website that may answer your questions. http://www.motability.co.uk/about-the-scheme/info-for-carers/

Thanks for posting this, Trekster. It's good to know that some initial guidelines have been developed. I read the article and followed the link to the first reference, but haven't found the actual guidelines. If anyone happens to have a direct link to the guidelines that would be of interest to me, and I guess others. I also note that this appears to be based in USA, not UK, though from what I can gather some gender clinics in the UK are doing some ASC screening.

When I have lived with cats I have enjoyed rubbing my face (especially my mouth) on their fur and would also like to brush the tip of the cat's tail around my eyes, nose and mouth - only briefly, as long as the cat was purring, so as not to annoy the cat. After my last cat died I tried to think of what I could get that would be as soft as cat fur, but ideally not an animal product. I thought of velvet, but what also came to mind is the buds on willow, when they are fuzzy. I think this is closer to cat fur than velvet would be. I have one bud that I carry in the same pot as my foam ear plugs. I have thought of sticking a number of buds close together on a stick, so I could run it between my lips. (I haven't done this, as I thought a glue gun would be the best thing for the job, but not cost effective for this one-off task.) I know this is going a little at a tangent from your original question, but I thought it sufficiently relevant to mention. I hope that's ok.

On the other hand, it might show that you can't tolerate being around other people. Or you might drive somewhere then don't attend the thing you planned because it was too stressful trying to find a parking space and so you went home again. You might only drive occasionally when you have low stress levels e.g. to get into green space, which are not well served by public transport. So I don't think having a car versus not having a car is as simple as getting benefits or not. Indeed, some people get a car through their disability benefits.

Cars are not cheap to maintain and run, not to mention the cost of learning to drive. Even though you have saved up enough, do check out the likely costs (MOT, approximate insurance for the type of car you want to buy, the amount of miles you plan to do and the cost of fuel for your type of car, an amount in case of repair, roadside assistance such as AA or RAC, vehicle excise duty). If you think about how much you would spend to maintain and run a car, say over a year, you could then compare it to how many £10 train journeys you could make in the same time period. This could help you decide the most cost efficient way of spending your money on transport to improve your life. If you had a car you might still need to walk for 5 minutes to get to your destination, if there wasn't a parking space close by. Do you get stressed if things don't go to plan and you have to make quick decisions? This could be things like not getting a suitable parking space, unexpectedly having to follow a diversion, another road user doing something dangerous that you have to respond to. Are you on any medication that could affect your driving? (e.g. making you drowsy) Ultimately it's up to you whether you want to get a car or not. I just thought I'd raise some points that you may not have considered. You don't need to answer any of these questions on the forum if you prefer to keep the answers private. I learned to drive about 8 years ago, but I have never owned a car. All my learning experience was during driving lessons. I then had to wait 2 years after passing my test until I could join a car club or rent a car, so I didn't drive for all that time. I had a driving refresher lesson before I drove again independently and now drive occasionally. Public transport where I live is fairly good, so environmentally and financially it would be hard to justify owning a car.

I tend to answer along the lines of "I don't really have a strong sense of what goes together." I may either add "but it looks fine from my point of view" or will explain a positive aspect if I have noticed one e.g. "you look smart to me, I think that should fit the occasion" or "I always like that top/colour, so it looks good to me." This approach gets me through the vast majority of times of being asked.

For info, the next meet up for The Glasgow Autism Meetup Group is 3rd September, as listed on group page https://www.meetup.com/The-Glasgow-Autism-Meetup-Group/ I can't track down the details for the Central Scotland group which I saw advertised as a new group within about the last 6 months.

There is at least one Glasgow based group on meetup.com and, I believe, a fairly new group incentral Scotland (Falkirk?), also on meetup.com

If you haven't already found it, the ARGH website is http://www.arghighland.co.uk

You don't mention the relevance to autism - whether you think you, your son, or both are autistic. Looking back at your previous posts I can see that this is probably your son who had an aspergers diagnosis. In light of that, some of the descriptions in your post (on the theme of not bonding with him) aren't surprising to read. In your topic subject you include the phrase "I am to blame", as if this is a fact. You are not to blame for autism, although it is common for parents to wonder whether they have caused difficulties and conditions experienced by their children. And you are not to blame for experiencing a difficult (abusive?) relationship. You were courageous in calling the police and going through with the court case. This action has probably led to a better life for your child than if you had endured the relationship. Have you ever had support to deal emotionally with both your past relationship and your son's diagnosis? As a reader, gaining support (e.g. counselling) appears to be a more constructive thing to pursue rather than wracking your brain for clues about whether you are to blame. You have also posted in the early hours of the morning, so if these worries are stopping you from sleeping or affecting you in other aspects of life, you could speak to your GP. All the best.

Hi Sean, Has there been a topic that you have learned about in your course so far, which you found interesting? It may be appropriate for you to choose an actual or hypothetical real world situation as the context for the topic. I have studied before and would expect a tutor to be willing to have a conversation with you about possible options. You would need to have at at least one topic that you are considering. If you have 2 or 3 topics in mind then that means you have alternatives in case your tutor advises you against your first idea. I am guessing that your university has a student learning support department. If so, you could ask them if they will help you. They may help you to identify your ideas for your dissertation before you speak to a tutor. They should, I think, help you to plan your dissertation after you have decided on a topic. It's good that you are asking for help now, because you can start to work through this difficulty before the summer holidays. You are 2 years through your course - more than half way - so you have managed to find it sufficiently interesting to get this far. Or if you haven't found it interesting, you have at least shown a lot of determination. Keep going!