Results

[SidiousUK]

Hello all.

Had my assessment yesterday and the preliminary results are in and as I said I would let you know how I got on, here are the results.

 

AQ 49/50

EQ 6/80

Deficits in all three areas of ADOS and all five prerequsitesin AAA.

 

Not yet sure how I feel about this yet. I think I may have just hit the denial stage

full report due end of next week and hopefully I will have got used to the idea

 

I will say that the person doing the diagnostic was very knowlegable, but I have to admit that I switched off when she was giving her first impressions.

 

I feel a collapse coming on

 

SidiousUK

[LancsLad]

This is not an easy thing to go through, its going to be a real roller coaster ride.

 

I think it is good that you recongnise in your own words Sidious that the person doing the diagnositic was very knowlegable which I personally feel means you are not in denial at all.

 

Secondly I suspect/know yesterday was an emotionally exhausting day and to remain completely focused on everything would be hard so do not be hard on yourself for having switched off a bit at the end.

 

On a personal level I did not go through this type of assesment, and as such I am not too sure what the scores/grades mean, Sidious I am not asking you to explain that is not fair at this moment in time, if someone else on the forum can throw an 'accurate and informed' light on this I think that would be much appreciated for many who see this post, but Sidious feel free to say no to this.

 

I would say give yourself space and time to reflect on what you have been told and draw your own conclusions. I would be very concious about over reacting to this information and being negative about it in the short term. You are going to be emotionally exhausted by this assessment process and it will take a little bit of time to get back to normal levels. When you say you feel a collapse coming on I know where you are coming from. As I have said before at my final assesment I went with my partner and had planned to go for a walk and have something to eat afterwards. The reality was I left feeling completely empty, there was nothing left inside of me, i was emotionally drained and just wanted to curl up in my own bed and drift off to sleep. If only it was this easy in reallity I needed to come to terms with what had happened. I was planning to go back to university in a day or so, from memory this took abot 5 days. Then I remeber thinking "this has happened hasn't it, I am not sure what it really, really means yet, but I need to get on with something". I remeber then telling my partner I am going back to university in a bit, an hour later I was on my way and moving forwards again.

 

Don't take your assesments lightly and see them for what they are very significant periods in your life, look after yourself as always, and thanks again for being so open about what is happening in your life at the moment Sidious you are a far braver person than I was for doing so, and this strength will get you through this,

 

best wishes.

[LancsLad]

Sidious have had time to look through Tony Attwoods book and am presuming that AQ and EQ relates to the Autism Spectrum Quotient and Empathy Quotient screening questionaires. I did do these but did not make the connection at first and did not realise they were scored rather my diagnosis was the final report though my assesor would have used all the information she had to draw her conclusions.

 

In this respect I can make the connections with your previous posts on the forum about how you should approach these screening questionaires. I would say if you believed at the time you had been honest and was not trying to hide anything then the results are to be expected. If you think you were too hard on yourself its not a case of this being bordeline and so would have confidence in the outcome. I suspect my scores would have been similar as everyone felt it was a very clear cut decision, and having met other adults with AS on reflection I can see where they where coming from.

 

I think when it comes to areas such as the Adult Asperger Assesment criteria I can see how this might be a bit hard to take in isolation. I have re read through the criteria myself and would honestly say yes I tick all the boxes as well. I can honestly say it was a bit uncomfortable reading these through again. I think this is a problem with the assessment process that there are a lot of things in it which you can view in a negative way as somehow being faults in your make up as a person.

 

In my experience there is so much more to AS than a simple list of descriptions which NT's might interperate in a negative way. The process does not focus on the positive elements of the condition and as a result it is easy to get into a beat yourself up mentality.

 

I would wait for the full report to arrive and digest it carefully in your own time, untill that arrives you are very much interperating what the assesor might think. I am sure her report will contain a lot of positive elements and will be well structured. I would expect it to feel like a bit of an anti climax though, it did for me, I felt 'oh is that it then!'

 

Sidious I think it is important to remeber you are the very same person you were before the assesment nothing has changed in that respect. Going for an assesment lets us find the answer to a question which makes us better informed and for me finding a context which made a lot of sense in my life enabled me to reflect on my past life, to cut myself a bit of slack and then move on. This all takes time and you will go through the process at your own pace. It is important that you keep a balanced perspective on things look at your strengths and sucesses in life and find meaning in them as well. I hope in a little time you will see yesterday as a good day in your life, a hard day but a god day.

 

Have they offered you any follow up sessions? Personally I did not get any from the service concerned but was able to talk things through with a few empathetic individuals, I think it is important to do this and express your thoughts to someone who will listen.

 

just a few thoughts, take care.

[trekster]

After my breakdown (about 2 years post diagnosis) i had to slow down and learn more about my ASD

so i could find ways of learning about myself and others around me. i still dont get some folk that are

in my social circle but i am now running the bath social group.

 

Finding others 'like me' was one of the best things i did, it reduced the loneliness and isolation

that was until i got additional diagnosis but i still have some mates that are both ASD and EDS

(see the related 'conditions' thread for more details).

 

After my diagnosis we immediately applied for benefits until there was nothing left we had attempted

to claim. In some areas ASD (or lower rate mobility) can entitle you to a bus pass for free travel in

your country of the UK. If you can get DLA then you can (in some cases) get a disabled adult railcard

which gets you a cheaper fare on the train.S

 

Students can get disabled students allowance for most undergraduate and some post graduate courses.