"Adult autism assessment"

I went through an ASD assessment. On the third appointment the clinicians decided that I didn’t fit within the ASD category because I looked at people in the eye, could follow a conversation and could imagine a story when given a book with images. I believe the Adult Autism Team should update their criteria regarding the diagnosis of this condition. They should know what masking is among other things. As an older adult, I believe that I learned to hide my difference by trying to conceal my symptoms for a long time.

Nobody wakes up one day and decides - oh, I believe I'm autistic. I firmly believe the diagnosticians must have access to the latest findings and up-to-date tools to properly diagnose a neurological condition as ASD or any other. Unfortunately, that was not the case of the Adult Autism Team, I feel they limited their assessment to following a very obvious script in which a lack of spontaneity and flexibility was evident. 

I felt that after the second  meeting they had already made up their mind regarding my diagnosis. It was I who had to contact them in order to know when our next meeting would be, and although the first two meetings had been very close in time, the third meeting was scheduled to be more than a month after the second meeting with all the uncertainty that caused in me.

I must insist on the fact that the Adult Assessment Team should  be better instructed and updated. In my view,  to tell a person who might be in the spectrum that he/she is not autistic because he/ she can look at people in the eye is utterly disrespectful because that shows their ignorance in respect to well-known facts such as masking in people with ASD, as I mentioned before. Especially in older adults who must find ways to deal with a world which is completely foreign to them.

I must add that regarding my sensory issues like sound, the Adult Autism Team recommended me to wear headphones. They also instructed me to contact my GP again, hinting that something was in fact wrong with me but that they knew it wasn’t autism. Besides, they also said that I might be traumatised by my childhood because my granny spoilt me rotten and then she died when I was 7.  And that the rest of my siblings were treated differently (better than me ) by our mother. Could this be taken as a serious diagnosis? I certainly don’t believe so. 

Thank you for allowing this platform to allow us to voice our impressions and experiences.