I've been wondering for quite a while if I have autism or not as I seem to hit a lot of the commonly reported symptoms and experiences. I recently tried some of the self-tests out there, including the ones on Embrace Autism, and yeah, I hit every single one I tried for mild to even moderate autism. Scored 49 on the rbq-2a for example.
Now, I know that none of those tests are conclusive and I could easily be a false positive, so I'm not directly claiming I have autism. But I'm thinking the next step is probably to talk to my primary care doctor, but to be honest I'm really hesitant to/don't completely trust the mental health system in Canada. Genuinely asking because I don't really have anyone in my personal life who has similar experiences or I think would understand: what do people here think about getting a formal diagnosis? Is it always something one should pursue if they suspect they're on the spectrum? Are there any major drawbacks? I'm especially concerned about it affecting my career prospects (which already aren't great tbh, my fault for getting a science degree in an already niche field which I deeply regret but that's a different story) or my ability to take out loans or rent an apartment by myself. I don't personally see my autism (if I have it) as a disability, but unfortunately in Canada it is still very much seen as such. Who am I required to disclose an autism diagnosis if I am diagnosed?
I'm really sorry if any of this comes off as insensitive. I have never really participated in the autism online community and I am in no way trying to put down people with autism, I'm honestly just kind of scared about what this means for me. Anyone else in a similar situation, or were in a similar situation? Care to share your experiences or have any advice?
One of us! One of us!
Regarding potential drawbacks, I don't think there'd be any besides the time. I'm not Canadian but I think any anti-discrimination law would prevent any kind of "obligatory disclosure" and you could just apply without "disability." It might even be a crime for the doctor to disclose that without consent.
On my personal anecdote regarding self-diagonosis, I've been pretty sure I was autistic since fairly young. I generally think of it as "being autistic" or "having autistic behaviours" because I generally don't like how pathologised it sounds to say one "has" autism. I only got diagnosed literally last month because I was already going through some other harsher stuff and decided I might as well investigate that. The confirmation did not change my life a single bit, but it might be cool if you're having doubts.
I was also completely misdiagnosed as bipolar some years ago, so be careful that your doctor doesn't railroad you into some completely unrelated diagnosis that is medicable. I'm not completely anti-psychiatry but you should definitely do a deep dive on whether you really want to take a drug before you take it. Autism is generally not medicated (and most popular medications are actually harmful), so if the medication brands itself as "for autism" rather than some actual issue (i.e. social anxiety), change doctors ASAP.
As a general rule of thumb, if you're well acquainted with austism, old enough to know yourself well, and seriously thinking you might be autistic, I think it's very unlikely you're a complete neurotypical. But you could fit nicer in some adjacent spectrums such as ADHD.
We also have a neurodiverse comm here but it's rather dead right now. Would be really cool to populate that one again because we neurocooler folk tend to be either forgotten or just outright sectioned under capitalism.
Thank you! I'd honestly love to raise awareness for autism while meeting other autists. Will probably post more about my experiences under this account since it's far enough removed from my personal life that I feel comfortable doing so as long as I'm careful. Definitely need to do more research and weigh my options and ideally get more than one opinion for my real life diagnosis.