My doctor ordered me a pack of forms and questionnaires to request an assessment for adult autism. In amongst the medical histories and self assessments, this question stuck out;
it is important to know that not everyone who is referred to our service will have a diagnosis of autism confirmed. In the space below, tell us how you think having an autism diagnosis confirmed, or not, might impact on you and your life
What’s going on here? Do you get asked this for other conditions? We’re a community that typically struggles to read between the lines, so I could be way off, but this feels grudging to me. It’s a question that says - what’s the point of us even offering this service, and why are you so special that we should waste our time on you?
I hate this.
This kind of question has come up again and again when I’ve tried to access services and support, as if the people who work there don’t know what they can or cannot provide and/or help with, and it’s entirely up to me, the person who doesn’t work there or know exactly what they can offer, to tell them what they can do for me.
Like, what?
To me it feels like a deliberate barrier, and I often fall at it out of sheer frustration (and they have one less person to support, which seems to be the objective).