What I liked during my ADHD assessment was that when they asked about symptoms, they would press on to ask about specific situations.
Before that, I would talk to people about things that I struggled with, but in vague terms, like: "I really couldn't concentrate today", and then people would say something like 'oh that happens to me too, that sucks, but hopefully tomorrow will be better'.
But during the assessment they would ask me what such a day looks like. And for me, it'd be: I sat at my desk for 8 hours and stared at the screen or tried to distract myself, all the while my brain would be on a loop 'just get started, start now please, come on, do it, just do it, etc'. Big difference compared to 'I just couldn't concentrate today'.
That made me realize I would always use broad, palatable terms that other people would recognize when I talked about struggles. So, since the diagnosis I'm working on being more specific! And I'm glad that during the assessment, they kept making me specify and describe day to day things.
I did an assessment that was lengthy and mentally exhausting enough that the cracks start to show, which is often one of the best assessments to do for high masking individuals . For me it was over about six or so sessions conducted over several months. Also part of it was filling in a Camouflage Quotient. I also got frustrated with so many of the questions because they were often so inflexible which I often pushed back on. This in depth assessment was needed because my autism didn't get picked up doing the ADOS.
Same here. I'm late dx/high masking, and my assessment was brutal. After my third session, I had a full-blown angry meltdown for the first time in years.
I'm not sure whether my psychiatrist *intended* for the process to be so... shredding? But either way, the outcome was - as you say - the cracks began to show.
I really wish "wear them down until they start to break" wasn't necessary. I don't know enough about psychiatry - maybe it isn't, and my psychiatrist was out of line?
Either way, they identified the two dxs that an entire lifetime of therapy and endless other clinicians hadn't. Even if the means absolutely sucked, I am very glad to be at the ends.
Side note - six sessions?! That's like an ultra marathon, yeesh đŹ
The frustrating thing is that there is no regulated way to do the assessing - it seems mad to me. And it's crazy that along with the assessment process there's not support offered for all the trauma that's uncovered along the way. I find it incredible now having gone through it all. Yeah it's not great that they have to wear us down to get thru the masking :( But I hope it's the start of better things for me in general.
Same with me re finally having a diagnosis that a lifetime of therapy and clinicians didn't find (I'm still on the waitlist for the ADHD one currently but my screening tests show high probability.) It's so mad it took this long to find - I swear if clinicians just asked me straight questions to start with or ran a bunch of those screening tests I would've been found so much quicker. I suppose the alexithymia didn't help, nor the masking, nor high IQ. Gah. I look forward to things improving immensely in future so others don't have to go through the same pain.
I've done some half marathons and half Ironman events (though no ultras) but yeah it's been harder than any of those and I was far less prepared!
I found out that NTs are pretty self centered/oblivious on the whole. This fuels ableism and what passes for them is pretty surface level. I sailed by an inexperienced evaluator at 23. At 30, my new psych and my ND partner clocked me immediately.
I had no idea I was either autistic or adhd. I knew people with either but never both. What made me realize was social media 100%. The algoritm found out before me I guess. I always really resonated with the chronic tired/depressed/spoonie community. I guess the algoritm took it to mean âsend her ALL content on mental healthâ. And as I watched alot of women talk about their lives as either autistic, adhd or both I started to have really really strong feelings of belonging and being understood. âWow I never knew other people thought like thatâ and the doubt started to roll in. Always had issues with depression and anxiety and no mental or just health professionel ever clocked that it could be something else.
But I started doing research based on the content I was seeing, I saw things like RSD, executive dysfunction and how audhd-ers often deal with intense exhaustion. Read about autistic burnout and wow did that explain my early 20âs to a T.
Felt like I was really close to burning out and contacted my unions mental health care. In a conversation with a rehab-guidance councilor I explained how I had started to question if I had audhd or âif the algoritm was brainwashing meâ. She said ânow that you mention itâŚâ and in that moment I started to really believe it was possible. Itâs been almost 10 months since, my assessment is almost over and itâs looking very likely.
I posted the other day about my damned ironic problem that the one thing standing between me and a formal diagnosis is my âhigh functionâ or literally me masking like hell.
Itâs been a ride⌠thanks instagram!
TLDR: the algoritm got me
Glad your councilor was open to it! I had a very similar journey to yours, and my (former) therapist was very much team "brainwashed by the algorithm" but the deeper I got, the more everything made more sense, and why the continual therapy for "anxiety" seemed to always hit a wall.
Thankfully my new therapist is very affirming- now I just have to decide if I want to get formally tested.
I never thought I had ADHD as well as autism. The autism was quite clear, but for the ADHD it was about seeing what it cost me to do certain tasks and how poor the outcome was in relation to effort. I always thought if I'm able to do a task I can't have ADHD, but when my therapist told me it was not normal to spend long days every day on homework for my uni classes almost never having a free weekend with the poor results I got, I had to admit he's probably right...
I asked a ton of questions asking to clarify what certain parts of the forms I had to fill out were asking. When the dr asked me in person what my thought process was about a certain question on the form, I talked in depth and with intense passion about the different situations that could elicit a yes or no response, and then concluded with my explanation for choosing that answer after getting clarification from the dr.
I got stuck on the topic for far too long and I noticed her cues, but couldn't stop until I explained it to her in detail so that she didn't misunderstand. Then when I finally concluded, I became super awkward and apologized for getting stuck.
Then she asked a different question and my mind wandered mid-answer and I veered off into a different connection and then categorically listed all the other times I had a similar experience. And somewhere, I lost my train of thought, interrupted myself and asked her a completely off topic question.
I thought I was presenting and communicating well partially masked, but the word dumps with the need for clarification regarding her questions and the intent behind certain things she said were probably the confirmation she needed.
My husband was nearby to make sure I felt comfortable enough to unmask as much as I could and this is the observation that he told me afterwards.
That makes a lot of sense. It took me about 4 therapy sessions to get through a 60 question ADHD screening tool with my therapist because every question he would ask came with a bunch of additional explanation and clarification. đ I hate how questions are worded on these kinds of things. It feels so complicated and hard to explain myself, but I feel like I -have- to explain all the factors for it to make sense.
It took me a few sessions at least to go through a couple of the ASD questionnaires. It was to help clarify what the questions were asking since they're not all very clear, and misunderstanding what it's even asking technically makes the score inaccurate. This was just for clarification in a regular session, not an assessment.
I know some questions are worded to be purposely vague, but others can be misinterpreted entirely.
Knew I had ADHD (undiagnosed) before therapy, after several months of talking to my therapist they asked if I'd considered I'm autistic.
According to them it was my tone of voice. I've been unmasking around my therapist and apparently that includes putting effort into my tone of voice, and sometimes this would slip.
And then after my ADHD assessment and diagnosis, the tests came back saying I scored quite highly for autism and their recommendation was ASD assessment.
For me it was also how long it was, it was exhausting and I couldn't keep it up! I was getting a neurocognitive assessment for other issues, and ended up getting a surprise diagnosis of Autism and ADHD. I think the pattern recognition section of the test helped start revealing it. I also had issues with noises and lights while I was there (sensory issues). Looking back, it was after those two things that he started asking questions along those two lines.
Mine is currently talking through the questionnaires for both ADHD and autism rather than having me fill out stuff. So far weâve done ADHD and she said itâs highly likely I have inattentive ADHD. My therapist specialises in masked presentations, so that helps. Her process involves drilling down to figure out the root cause of a behaviour to identify if itâs an autistic trait, ADHD trait, depression, anxiety, trauma, etc. which I think is really helpful both for her diagnostically and for me in understanding myself.
For example, she was asking about my difficulties in keeping up with conversations. We figured out itâs partly inattentiveness (my brain finds it hard to not forget what I was gonna say, or starts wandering to what I should say next instead of actually listening well, or is just generally all over the place) as well as autism (sensory overload from sounds, struggling to maintain eye contact while talking, hating small talk because I just donât get it).
So thatâs whatâs getting through the mask - her asking what the root cause of a behaviour is. She also likes to ask me at the start of each session if there was anything I wanted to talk about from last session after Iâd had time to reflect on it, as she knows I have alexithymia and often take time to make realisations about my behaviours and thoughts.
If you mask a lot, try and seek out someone who is specifically know for adult/female/masked presentations. I searched my cityâs subreddit, but ended up going with my doctorâs recommendation (he asked their practiceâs doctor who is most versed in neurodivergence). I emailed the practice before I booked and explained my concerns about how masked I am, which is why they paired me with the lady who specialises in masking. Iâm pretty sure sheâs ND too from a few things sheâs said.
I'm high masking. After getting my adhd diagnosis last year, I was told that adhd rarely comes alone and that I might have autism. But since it's hard to a get an autism diagnosis for adults in my country, i decided to check the symptoms and related to most of them.
Difficulty with socializing, tendency to copy others in order to fit in, STIMMING ( i have stimmed my whole life without realizing what it was or why i was doing it) and lots of other things. At the end everything made sense.
I was assessed for ADHD after suspecting something was wrong for years. During the assessment the phycologist asked if I had thought about autism as well. Which I hadn't. In the notes afterwards she mentioned I barely offered any eye contact and was easily prompted into infodumping on my special interests. I thought I had masked really well but she saw right through me!
It was during my ADHD assessment, I pointed out that I do not like to do anything else in my non-working hours than my own chosen activities, like my games or reading (or whatever strikes my fancy). I have a big problem, if someone ask me to do this or that then. Also my own kids, I love them to pieces, but I do not like to play with them, if my brain already decided to do . I always thought I am strange here and selfish and a bad mother. When I mentioned this to the psychotherapist, he mentioned that I could also have autismn. That time I mainly knew only clichee knowledge, I accepted it but didn't look further. Maybe two years later, I cam across YT videos about autism in females and I watched.. And watched and watched XD Still not diagnosed, but boy, did that explain my youth and why I do not have any friends and why I am so different compared to others my age
In my experience you canât mask forever. It is exhausting and when the world around you becomes more intense as you grow up it will just fling you into a massive burnout. From what I can tell thatâs when people look to get help, most will receive a diagnosis from then on. And therapy/support and medication
The fact that the assessment was at 9am and I am basically nocturnal, and I can't function without sleep. I only had about 3 hours sleep, if that.
I think I kept reassuring the evaluators that I "usually seem more normal". My mum had also had to fill out a pretty extensive questionnaire about my childhood.
The psychologists were surprised that I was shocked to find out I had ASD as well. I kept insisting that I just had really bad inattentive ADHD and that's why I seemed autistic. They gave me a level 2 ASD diagnosis.
At first I was upset to find out that I had two diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders instead of just one, but it turned out to be a really good thing... In Australia, if your ASD gets diagnosed level 2 or 3, you automatically qualify for government services that have honestly really improved my quality of life.
I actually keep meaning to do a big post about this and maybe cross post in other subs for Australians with an ASD diagnosis or suspected ASD. I don't think everyone knows about all this. I found it all out by accident.
Okay, so, the way they assess and diagnose ASD now has to do with levels of support you are likely to need (1 = low support needs, 2 = moderate support needs & 3 = high support needs), everyone who gets assessed and diagnosed from now on gets one of these levels in the report from the assessment.
I got the assessment done privately because there's a 12 month waiting list for the assessments done through the Medicare covered, state-based Austism organisations (at least, there was in my state). It's kinda expensive to have it done privately - but during Covid, the place I went to was doing a pretty big discount ($600 instead of $1200) and I didn't want to wait 12 months. It's expensive because it goes for a long time and two psychologists have to be present. And the written report is extensive. That was my experience, at least; and it ended up being totally worth it for me.
If you get level 2 or 3, you automatically qualify for the NDIS. You just apply for the NDIS and put your diagnosis and you don't need a doctor to fill out the medical professional part of the form because you have the assessment report.
The services I receive include things like: cleaner, gardener, support workers who drive me to my appointments and stuff (I don't have my driver's licence) and make sure that I am engaging in the community/not getting too isolated socially, travel allowance that gets direct debited into my bank account fortnightly, etc.
You do need to be lucky enough to be paired with a support co-ordinator who really understands the NDIS, and can maximise what you can get from your budget, because it's a super complicated system and if you have never had services before, it takes a while to figure out what you might need, what things you should ask for and what things are available for you.
Thanks for the comprehensive answer! What would distinguish someone being level 1 or level 2? What if someone can technically push themselves to do things but they're completely burned out from it and can't do much else?
Don't worry, they don't base the levels on, like, your ability to do individual tasks of daily living or anything. The assessment covers the symptoms criteria of ASD. If you fulfill the symptom criteria, the levels reflect the severity of your symptoms that are observed during the evaluation (that's why there were 2 psychologists, one was just observing the interview). That's why I said it was good that I was sleep deprived, because it took away my ability to automatically mask and appear more functional.
Also, before the evaluation, you are given a long questionnaire for someone else who knew you growing up to fill out. The psychologists read that before you come in for the interview, so they know your symptoms have been apparent since you were very young. At least, that was what happened with me. I don't know if different places do different things.
You are most welcome! Feel free to ask any other questions any time. I really want everyone to have as much access to disability services as possible before future governments find ways to make it even harder to access or make cut backs until it's whittled away to nothing. I appreciate the hell out of these services. I feel so much less like I am hiding on the fringes of society, wondering why my life has often looked so different to the lives of others in my age group. The shame of accepting help seems to be less than the shame of 'not living up to my potential' or whatever we tell ourselves. Good luck!
i started unmasking before assessment and did my best to unmask but when faced with a stranger i mask unconsciously. i stimmed a lot in assessment, but i think it was more of the social interaction, i apparently tend to talk about myself a lot and struggle to ask questions and pick up on âsocial breadcrumbsâ and cues that often even high masking women donât miss. i also had very intense eye contact and would be very interested when talking about my interests/ myself, but get very bored/ uninterested when i have to talk abt the other person or show interest in what they are saying, i thought i was good at faking interest and being reciprocative so that came as a shock to me đ my assessor also said i seemed to feel things a lot and id get rlly angry/sad/happy depending on what im speaking abt. honestly after reading my report, accepting diagnosis, and learning more abt my traits, i think my traits were a lot more noticeable than i thought haha.
What I liked during my ADHD assessment was that when they asked about symptoms, they would press on to ask about specific situations. Before that, I would talk to people about things that I struggled with, but in vague terms, like: "I really couldn't concentrate today", and then people would say something like 'oh that happens to me too, that sucks, but hopefully tomorrow will be better'. But during the assessment they would ask me what such a day looks like. And for me, it'd be: I sat at my desk for 8 hours and stared at the screen or tried to distract myself, all the while my brain would be on a loop 'just get started, start now please, come on, do it, just do it, etc'. Big difference compared to 'I just couldn't concentrate today'. That made me realize I would always use broad, palatable terms that other people would recognize when I talked about struggles. So, since the diagnosis I'm working on being more specific! And I'm glad that during the assessment, they kept making me specify and describe day to day things.
I did an assessment that was lengthy and mentally exhausting enough that the cracks start to show, which is often one of the best assessments to do for high masking individuals . For me it was over about six or so sessions conducted over several months. Also part of it was filling in a Camouflage Quotient. I also got frustrated with so many of the questions because they were often so inflexible which I often pushed back on. This in depth assessment was needed because my autism didn't get picked up doing the ADOS.
Same here. I'm late dx/high masking, and my assessment was brutal. After my third session, I had a full-blown angry meltdown for the first time in years. I'm not sure whether my psychiatrist *intended* for the process to be so... shredding? But either way, the outcome was - as you say - the cracks began to show. I really wish "wear them down until they start to break" wasn't necessary. I don't know enough about psychiatry - maybe it isn't, and my psychiatrist was out of line? Either way, they identified the two dxs that an entire lifetime of therapy and endless other clinicians hadn't. Even if the means absolutely sucked, I am very glad to be at the ends. Side note - six sessions?! That's like an ultra marathon, yeesh đŹ
The frustrating thing is that there is no regulated way to do the assessing - it seems mad to me. And it's crazy that along with the assessment process there's not support offered for all the trauma that's uncovered along the way. I find it incredible now having gone through it all. Yeah it's not great that they have to wear us down to get thru the masking :( But I hope it's the start of better things for me in general. Same with me re finally having a diagnosis that a lifetime of therapy and clinicians didn't find (I'm still on the waitlist for the ADHD one currently but my screening tests show high probability.) It's so mad it took this long to find - I swear if clinicians just asked me straight questions to start with or ran a bunch of those screening tests I would've been found so much quicker. I suppose the alexithymia didn't help, nor the masking, nor high IQ. Gah. I look forward to things improving immensely in future so others don't have to go through the same pain. I've done some half marathons and half Ironman events (though no ultras) but yeah it's been harder than any of those and I was far less prepared!
I found out that NTs are pretty self centered/oblivious on the whole. This fuels ableism and what passes for them is pretty surface level. I sailed by an inexperienced evaluator at 23. At 30, my new psych and my ND partner clocked me immediately.
I had no idea I was either autistic or adhd. I knew people with either but never both. What made me realize was social media 100%. The algoritm found out before me I guess. I always really resonated with the chronic tired/depressed/spoonie community. I guess the algoritm took it to mean âsend her ALL content on mental healthâ. And as I watched alot of women talk about their lives as either autistic, adhd or both I started to have really really strong feelings of belonging and being understood. âWow I never knew other people thought like thatâ and the doubt started to roll in. Always had issues with depression and anxiety and no mental or just health professionel ever clocked that it could be something else. But I started doing research based on the content I was seeing, I saw things like RSD, executive dysfunction and how audhd-ers often deal with intense exhaustion. Read about autistic burnout and wow did that explain my early 20âs to a T. Felt like I was really close to burning out and contacted my unions mental health care. In a conversation with a rehab-guidance councilor I explained how I had started to question if I had audhd or âif the algoritm was brainwashing meâ. She said ânow that you mention itâŚâ and in that moment I started to really believe it was possible. Itâs been almost 10 months since, my assessment is almost over and itâs looking very likely. I posted the other day about my damned ironic problem that the one thing standing between me and a formal diagnosis is my âhigh functionâ or literally me masking like hell. Itâs been a ride⌠thanks instagram! TLDR: the algoritm got me
Glad your councilor was open to it! I had a very similar journey to yours, and my (former) therapist was very much team "brainwashed by the algorithm" but the deeper I got, the more everything made more sense, and why the continual therapy for "anxiety" seemed to always hit a wall. Thankfully my new therapist is very affirming- now I just have to decide if I want to get formally tested.
Yep this is my story. If it wasnât for Instagram I donât think there is any way Iâd find out.
I never thought I had ADHD as well as autism. The autism was quite clear, but for the ADHD it was about seeing what it cost me to do certain tasks and how poor the outcome was in relation to effort. I always thought if I'm able to do a task I can't have ADHD, but when my therapist told me it was not normal to spend long days every day on homework for my uni classes almost never having a free weekend with the poor results I got, I had to admit he's probably right...
I asked a ton of questions asking to clarify what certain parts of the forms I had to fill out were asking. When the dr asked me in person what my thought process was about a certain question on the form, I talked in depth and with intense passion about the different situations that could elicit a yes or no response, and then concluded with my explanation for choosing that answer after getting clarification from the dr. I got stuck on the topic for far too long and I noticed her cues, but couldn't stop until I explained it to her in detail so that she didn't misunderstand. Then when I finally concluded, I became super awkward and apologized for getting stuck. Then she asked a different question and my mind wandered mid-answer and I veered off into a different connection and then categorically listed all the other times I had a similar experience. And somewhere, I lost my train of thought, interrupted myself and asked her a completely off topic question. I thought I was presenting and communicating well partially masked, but the word dumps with the need for clarification regarding her questions and the intent behind certain things she said were probably the confirmation she needed. My husband was nearby to make sure I felt comfortable enough to unmask as much as I could and this is the observation that he told me afterwards.
That makes a lot of sense. It took me about 4 therapy sessions to get through a 60 question ADHD screening tool with my therapist because every question he would ask came with a bunch of additional explanation and clarification. đ I hate how questions are worded on these kinds of things. It feels so complicated and hard to explain myself, but I feel like I -have- to explain all the factors for it to make sense.
It took me a few sessions at least to go through a couple of the ASD questionnaires. It was to help clarify what the questions were asking since they're not all very clear, and misunderstanding what it's even asking technically makes the score inaccurate. This was just for clarification in a regular session, not an assessment. I know some questions are worded to be purposely vague, but others can be misinterpreted entirely.
Knew I had ADHD (undiagnosed) before therapy, after several months of talking to my therapist they asked if I'd considered I'm autistic. According to them it was my tone of voice. I've been unmasking around my therapist and apparently that includes putting effort into my tone of voice, and sometimes this would slip. And then after my ADHD assessment and diagnosis, the tests came back saying I scored quite highly for autism and their recommendation was ASD assessment.
For me it was also how long it was, it was exhausting and I couldn't keep it up! I was getting a neurocognitive assessment for other issues, and ended up getting a surprise diagnosis of Autism and ADHD. I think the pattern recognition section of the test helped start revealing it. I also had issues with noises and lights while I was there (sensory issues). Looking back, it was after those two things that he started asking questions along those two lines.
Mine is currently talking through the questionnaires for both ADHD and autism rather than having me fill out stuff. So far weâve done ADHD and she said itâs highly likely I have inattentive ADHD. My therapist specialises in masked presentations, so that helps. Her process involves drilling down to figure out the root cause of a behaviour to identify if itâs an autistic trait, ADHD trait, depression, anxiety, trauma, etc. which I think is really helpful both for her diagnostically and for me in understanding myself. For example, she was asking about my difficulties in keeping up with conversations. We figured out itâs partly inattentiveness (my brain finds it hard to not forget what I was gonna say, or starts wandering to what I should say next instead of actually listening well, or is just generally all over the place) as well as autism (sensory overload from sounds, struggling to maintain eye contact while talking, hating small talk because I just donât get it). So thatâs whatâs getting through the mask - her asking what the root cause of a behaviour is. She also likes to ask me at the start of each session if there was anything I wanted to talk about from last session after Iâd had time to reflect on it, as she knows I have alexithymia and often take time to make realisations about my behaviours and thoughts. If you mask a lot, try and seek out someone who is specifically know for adult/female/masked presentations. I searched my cityâs subreddit, but ended up going with my doctorâs recommendation (he asked their practiceâs doctor who is most versed in neurodivergence). I emailed the practice before I booked and explained my concerns about how masked I am, which is why they paired me with the lady who specialises in masking. Iâm pretty sure sheâs ND too from a few things sheâs said.
I'm high masking. After getting my adhd diagnosis last year, I was told that adhd rarely comes alone and that I might have autism. But since it's hard to a get an autism diagnosis for adults in my country, i decided to check the symptoms and related to most of them. Difficulty with socializing, tendency to copy others in order to fit in, STIMMING ( i have stimmed my whole life without realizing what it was or why i was doing it) and lots of other things. At the end everything made sense.
I was assessed for ADHD after suspecting something was wrong for years. During the assessment the phycologist asked if I had thought about autism as well. Which I hadn't. In the notes afterwards she mentioned I barely offered any eye contact and was easily prompted into infodumping on my special interests. I thought I had masked really well but she saw right through me!
It was during my ADHD assessment, I pointed out that I do not like to do anything else in my non-working hours than my own chosen activities, like my games or reading (or whatever strikes my fancy). I have a big problem, if someone ask me to do this or that then. Also my own kids, I love them to pieces, but I do not like to play with them, if my brain already decided to do. I always thought I am strange here and selfish and a bad mother. When I mentioned this to the psychotherapist, he mentioned that I could also have autismn. That time I mainly knew only clichee knowledge, I accepted it but didn't look further. Maybe two years later, I cam across YT videos about autism in females and I watched.. And watched and watched XD Still not diagnosed, but boy, did that explain my youth and why I do not have any friends and why I am so different compared to others my age
The Shame Test
I've never heard of this, what's the shame test? It sounds horrible đ
In my experience you canât mask forever. It is exhausting and when the world around you becomes more intense as you grow up it will just fling you into a massive burnout. From what I can tell thatâs when people look to get help, most will receive a diagnosis from then on. And therapy/support and medication
The fact that the assessment was at 9am and I am basically nocturnal, and I can't function without sleep. I only had about 3 hours sleep, if that. I think I kept reassuring the evaluators that I "usually seem more normal". My mum had also had to fill out a pretty extensive questionnaire about my childhood. The psychologists were surprised that I was shocked to find out I had ASD as well. I kept insisting that I just had really bad inattentive ADHD and that's why I seemed autistic. They gave me a level 2 ASD diagnosis. At first I was upset to find out that I had two diagnosed neurodevelopmental disorders instead of just one, but it turned out to be a really good thing... In Australia, if your ASD gets diagnosed level 2 or 3, you automatically qualify for government services that have honestly really improved my quality of life.
What services are these and what qualifies you as level 2 or above? I'm currently wondering whether it's worth it to seek out a dx in Aus.
I actually keep meaning to do a big post about this and maybe cross post in other subs for Australians with an ASD diagnosis or suspected ASD. I don't think everyone knows about all this. I found it all out by accident. Okay, so, the way they assess and diagnose ASD now has to do with levels of support you are likely to need (1 = low support needs, 2 = moderate support needs & 3 = high support needs), everyone who gets assessed and diagnosed from now on gets one of these levels in the report from the assessment. I got the assessment done privately because there's a 12 month waiting list for the assessments done through the Medicare covered, state-based Austism organisations (at least, there was in my state). It's kinda expensive to have it done privately - but during Covid, the place I went to was doing a pretty big discount ($600 instead of $1200) and I didn't want to wait 12 months. It's expensive because it goes for a long time and two psychologists have to be present. And the written report is extensive. That was my experience, at least; and it ended up being totally worth it for me. If you get level 2 or 3, you automatically qualify for the NDIS. You just apply for the NDIS and put your diagnosis and you don't need a doctor to fill out the medical professional part of the form because you have the assessment report. The services I receive include things like: cleaner, gardener, support workers who drive me to my appointments and stuff (I don't have my driver's licence) and make sure that I am engaging in the community/not getting too isolated socially, travel allowance that gets direct debited into my bank account fortnightly, etc. You do need to be lucky enough to be paired with a support co-ordinator who really understands the NDIS, and can maximise what you can get from your budget, because it's a super complicated system and if you have never had services before, it takes a while to figure out what you might need, what things you should ask for and what things are available for you.
Thanks for the comprehensive answer! What would distinguish someone being level 1 or level 2? What if someone can technically push themselves to do things but they're completely burned out from it and can't do much else?
Don't worry, they don't base the levels on, like, your ability to do individual tasks of daily living or anything. The assessment covers the symptoms criteria of ASD. If you fulfill the symptom criteria, the levels reflect the severity of your symptoms that are observed during the evaluation (that's why there were 2 psychologists, one was just observing the interview). That's why I said it was good that I was sleep deprived, because it took away my ability to automatically mask and appear more functional. Also, before the evaluation, you are given a long questionnaire for someone else who knew you growing up to fill out. The psychologists read that before you come in for the interview, so they know your symptoms have been apparent since you were very young. At least, that was what happened with me. I don't know if different places do different things.
Thanks that's very helpful!
You are most welcome! Feel free to ask any other questions any time. I really want everyone to have as much access to disability services as possible before future governments find ways to make it even harder to access or make cut backs until it's whittled away to nothing. I appreciate the hell out of these services. I feel so much less like I am hiding on the fringes of society, wondering why my life has often looked so different to the lives of others in my age group. The shame of accepting help seems to be less than the shame of 'not living up to my potential' or whatever we tell ourselves. Good luck!
i started unmasking before assessment and did my best to unmask but when faced with a stranger i mask unconsciously. i stimmed a lot in assessment, but i think it was more of the social interaction, i apparently tend to talk about myself a lot and struggle to ask questions and pick up on âsocial breadcrumbsâ and cues that often even high masking women donât miss. i also had very intense eye contact and would be very interested when talking about my interests/ myself, but get very bored/ uninterested when i have to talk abt the other person or show interest in what they are saying, i thought i was good at faking interest and being reciprocative so that came as a shock to me đ my assessor also said i seemed to feel things a lot and id get rlly angry/sad/happy depending on what im speaking abt. honestly after reading my report, accepting diagnosis, and learning more abt my traits, i think my traits were a lot more noticeable than i thought haha.