It cost my boyfriend $652 for the diagnosis, not including medication. That's with health insurance in the USA. It's a lot of money, but at least it wasn't in the thousands.

Edit: I'm sorry everyone. I thought I was in the ADHD topic. Didn't mean to give out misinformation.

It's the self diagnostics favorite past time. Lots of people will take a "self care" day after a social events. Lots of people will rehearse social interactions especially if they're important. And lots of people take extra time to make themselves "presentable" before leaving the house.

It begs the question: What does it mean to be autistic? We diagnose autism based on a constellation of symptoms only when those symptoms make it difficult to function in society (which is an arbitrary line). You can describe lots of non-autistic human behaviors as autistic because it's all on a spectrum. But you can also describe a lot of non-sociopathic human behaviors as sociopathic, I don't think it means you have symptoms of late-diagnosis sociopathy.

I guess what I'm saying is that posts like these and the general attitude it represents irks me a lot. Imo it's really really harmful to say to autistic people: "normal people don't need a day off after social events." Some do, some don't. It doesn't make you a diagnosable pariah to have this need. If you are autistic it means that your tendency to get overwhelmed by social events is so severe that it interferes with your general life and well-being. That's it. (And of course the same applies for the other two symptoms described in the post)

Found another one! 😄

You may need to read the post again until it clicks

You may have both.

Between 50% and 70% of autistic people also have an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder diagnosis

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/adhd-vs-autism

You are commenting on Lemmy.

Confirmation is one step in being able to solve / correct behavior and build workarounds.

Acceptance is a big step for a lot of people, as is the feeling of solidarity.

Now they know what to research for "life-hacks" on how to interact with and live within the world that isn't designed for people like us.

I'm in my 40s. I got my ADHD diagnosis this year. For me, it was validation, and was worth the money I spent on it to be able to say: "Yes, my brain has trouble with these things and I have to work differently than others."

I imagine it's the same for ASD. Having someone else confirm you struggle with certain things is, in its own way, empowering.

I don't know that "Therapy" therapy, or even medication, is always necessary afterwards. I don't plan to get meds for my ADHD, or get regular therapy sessions. I developed my own coping strategies and I've been fine for years and years; if I had been failing to hold a job or relationship, then therapy might be helpful to teach me strategies. The desire for me was to have someone else, who has training and knowledge more than my WebMD queries, tell me that I am correct in understanding my own body and everyone else is weird.

I still find therapy useful as an ASD adult. However, it certainly costs a lot and if you cannot spare the cash I totally get it. I get mine partly funded by the Australian government. I am genuinely grateful to the taxpayers for this privilege.

"Nah, I'm just really, really introverted... Like more than anybody I've ever met, kind of turbo-charged introverted, but that's all it is. That and I'm just completely defective as a person, so that's why nobody will be my friend."

-Me, 2016