Diagnosis
Congratulations, you completed a giant step
The short answers is:
- Take time to process and adjust to this new reality
- Start building a positive autism identity, if you have already not done so
- Consider discussing it with other significant people in your life
- Research and consider very carefully whether to disclose it at work, look at our employment section.
A lot of research has demonstrated that building positive autism identity , understanding and acceptance of autistic differences and fulfilling and recognised contribution to society are key factors of autistic wellbeing and quality of life.
Autistamatic’s awesome videos
“Relief, grief and belief”
“What Next?”
“Making Autism Work”
Blog by Autistic Phoenix
“My autistic charter”
Autism Act 2010
The Act does two key things:
- Puts a duty on the Government to produce and regularly review an autism strategy to meet the needs of autistic adults in England.
- Puts a duty on the Government to produce statutory guidance for local authorities to implement the strategy locally.
ww.autism.org.uk/about/strategy/overview.aspx
The above link from NAS describes what the NHS and your local authority should do and what processes should exist to meet your needs in the local area.
Think Autism strategy (2014) is the latest update of the a programme of action for the Department of Health and other government departments should do to improve the lives of autistic people. It is the latest implementation plan for the Autism Act.
Think Autism https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/think-autism-an-update-to-the-government-adult-autism-strategy
In 2019 the Department of Health conducted a consultation and it should result in a new update to the Autism Strategy in the near future.
The current Think Autism (2014) strategy defines 15 priorities of action. It sees its vision as follows:
‘The clear vision is that: “All adults with autism are able to live fulfilling and rewarding lives within a society that accepts and understands them. They can get a diagnosis and access support if they need it, and they can depend on mainstream public services to treat them fairly as individuals, helping them make the most of their talents.”
The priority number 7 is to ensure access to the diagnosis
7. I want a timely diagnosis from a trained professional. I want relevant information and support throughout the diagnostic process.
NICE
- https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/cg142/chapter/guidance#identification-and-assessment
- https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/qs51/chapter/Quality-statement-1-Diagnostic-assessment-by-an-autism-team
NHS diagnoses guide
What happens at the assessment and what you could do while waiting for one and after the result
NAS
There NICE guideline for autism diagnosis specifies 3 months lead time.
The latest report in June 2019 from the government self-assessment found out that the waiting times for adults’ autism assessment have doubled in the last two years.
The average wait is now 30 weeks.. Clearly with awareness the demand has increased while to supply of specialists did not keep up.
NAS discusses the implications and its campaign: https://www.autism.org.uk/get-involved/media-centre/news/2019-06-20-new-report-adult-diagnosis-waiting-times.aspx
