Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) : Barriers and Pathways in Formal and Self-Diagnosis
Hi, I’m Alice. You’re already on my CodeBerg page, and you can find my Mastodon profile here.
I spend my days working for a (non-GPT-based) AI company, managing their data science team. I’ve worked in the game industry for years as the head of data, and I’ve worked in data & business analytics in general for many years. I have a computer science degree and finished a few years of psychology coursework prior to that. When I’m not at work, I queer it up online, rant about capitalism, and advocate for data privacy.
As of writing, I think I’m currently most famous for a gif of a farting cat. Maybe this will change that, but knowing the internet, probably not.
I’m autistic, or at least, I’m very likely autistic. I’ve been trying off-and-on to get a formal diagnosis for a few years now.
When I was quite young, I had some speech difficulties and saw a speech therapist for them. Growing up, friends often joked that I was a robot or alien, due to my social interactions, flat affect, and specific interests. Ah, kids; their comments cut deep. When I was older, I was just a little “off”, “odd”, or “peculiar”. It wasn’t until well into my adult life that the topic of autism came up one night, at a bar with some friends. I took some online quiz on my phone. The quiz was like, “You’re Autistic! Lol”. We started discussing the validity of online quizzes as a few other friends took the same test. All-but-one of them got results of “You’re probably not Autistic”. It got a little awkward, and the conversation changed topics.
Over then next weeks, I took a lot of online tests, and they all pointed the same direction—I was likely autistic.
I didn’t do much of anything with that information for a while, just kept it tucked away in the back of my mind, where it could gnaw at me.
Some months later, after moving to and settling down in the UK, I started looking into getting a formal diagnosis. After searching around and calling places, I eventually found an autism center that was accepting people and got myself on a waiting list. Then COVID got worse, and the clinic paused its services. I looked for another, but no one was offering diagnostic services (especially for adults). I eventually got an email that the clinic was closing permanently and I was no longer wait-listed.
Fast-forward some months, and I’m living back in the USA, getting re-settled in. I ask my new doctor about formal diagnosis options, and he agrees that I’m likely autistic. After a few weeks he gives me a referral to the University of Washington Autism Center. I try for a month or so to get a response from them, and eventually someone contacts me to let me know that they’d be happy to see me if I have a formal diagnosis. After some questions, the lady informs me that they don’t offer adult diagnostic services anymore, but that I’m welcome to get another referral after I get a formal diagnosis.
So there I was, years after starting my journey towards a formal diagnosis, with zero progress towards my goal.
That’s when I started really researching the validity of self-diagnosis, which is what this project is all about.
There are no ads, deals, or sponsors behind this project; it is 100% my own opinions and research.
–-> les ressources dans la suite sur la page web :
▻https://codeberg.org/alicewatson/asd-self-dx/src/branch/main
#autisme #diagnostic #auto-diagnostic #ressources #trouble_du_spectre_de_l'autisme (#TSA)
