Diagnosis ~ were any of you guys diagnosed in adulthood?

[Graelwyn]

Curious if anyone else here received their diagnosis in adulthood and if so, what was their experience of it?
I have noticed that they basically diagnose you, then cast you adrift with no resources, here in the Uk anyway.

[odeon]

I was. I wouldn't say I was cast adrift because I did get some help, but I hear that is not generally the case here either.

[Jack]

Personally not diagnosable beyond brain damage.

[Al Swearegen]

Curious if anyone else here received their diagnosis in adulthood and if so, what was their experience of it?
I have noticed that they basically diagnose you, then cast you adrift with no resources, here in the Uk anyway.

Yes and yes.

[renaeden]

I was diagnosed when I was 27. I got referred to the Disability Services Commission where I was assigned a Local Area Coordinator. They didn't help much at first and now they only take on autistics with cognitive disabilities.

Two years ago they arranged funding for me to have a mentor, who turned out to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. We went to the gym a lot and she taught me quite a bit about cooking. The funding has ceased now - I am using the last of it to see my mentor (I pay her).

I don't know what the DSC will do with me next. Probably just keep me on their records.

[Icequeen]

Diagnosed twice...first in my early 30's.

First one was evaluating me for other reasons but worked with children who had asperger's for most of his life. I don't think he had encountered any adult "wild" aspie's...let alone an adult female "wild" aspie's. I felt like a lab rat being examined under a microscope during the whole thing. I was very uncomfortable, I basically ran out of there when he told me I had passed the evaluation but he was 100% sure after watching me for 3 days that I had aspergers (he said I was high functioning, and he wasn't even sure until the last part of day 2), and left it unconfirmed.

I had it confirmed a few years later at the insistence of the SO who was positive there just HAD to be some drug out there that would make me "normal". I was offered a choice of xanax or ativan to help cope with SO and my son who have ADHD, congratulated on adapting so well, and referred to a counselor at the time who had a teenage son with Asperger's she was trying to understand. No services, but best counselor I had ever had...I think we actually helped each other, and when she left 2 years later we both cried.   

["couldbecousin"]

  I was diagnosed at age 40, by a psychologist at my state's occupational rehabilitation agency.
  I'd already been diagnosed with ADD and prescribed medication, which helped/continues to help with
  time management and focus, and I'd begun reading about Asperger's Syndrome.  I don't remember
  the thought process that led me to mention Asperger's to my case manager at the rehab agency.
  I did recognize my childhood social difficulties (what I thought of as "social tone deafness") as being
  possibly aspie-related.  I sometimes wonder if I was diagnosed wrongly, if the psychologist would have
  thought of it if I hadn't already asked to be evaluated for it. 

  I've been reading some irate comments online lately from people saying that nowadays anyone who's
  remotely awkward or eccentric is glibly labelled as being on the autistic spectrum.  The comment
  foremost in my mind is that legitimately autistic people have a really hard time functioning every day,
  no matter how well they "present," and I'm wondering if I've been wrong in considering myself to be
  on the spectrum.  One of my lifelong interests is human behavior and its underlying motivations
  (as a teenager I used to browse through psychology textbooks aand articles looking for explanations
  for my own oddness), and I've improved my social skills exponentially over the years, largely because
  of my reading, also because I've been at the same job for almost 30 years and have had the opportunity
  to study people for years on end, learning from their moods and behavior.  Aside from my (still) slightly
  eccentric aura and the stimming (yeah, that's another thing I think I mentioned when I was diagnosed)
  ... I wonder if I stole a label that doesn't fit.  Does this make sense?  I chose my username here because
  I'd read about a term, "autistic cousin," meaning someone with some autistic traits but not necessarily
  enough for an official diagnosis.  I wonder if my own diagnosis was given too easily.  Eh ... 

[Graelwyn]

I was diagnosed when I was 27. I got referred to the Disability Services Commission where I was assigned a Local Area Coordinator. They didn't help much at first and now they only take on autistics with cognitive disabilities.

Two years ago they arranged funding for me to have a mentor, who turned out to be one of the nicest people I have ever met. We went to the gym a lot and she taught me quite a bit about cooking. The funding has ceased now - I am using the last of it to see my mentor (I pay her).

I don't know what the DSC will do with me next. Probably just keep me on their records.

Yah, I was not offered any sort of help, even though I struggle considerably with various tasks and especially things like paying bills, looking at mail, managing my time and cleaning. I had to seek help from MIND for those things, under my own steam and that took me sometime after the diagnosis. It is a bit of a no win for me as I hate having any strangers in my flat and struggle with certain kinds of helpers. So, I have someone I see just sometimes to sort out any bills and the like, and that is it really. There are no resources where I live for adults on the spectrum, from what I can find. A mentor such as yours would have been great. I cannot cook either. I just get ready prepared vegetables, already roasted chicken breasts and things like microwave rice and frozen ready baked potatoes, lol.

[Graelwyn]

Diagnosed twice...first in my early 30's.

First one was evaluating me for other reasons but worked with children who had asperger's for most of his life. I don't think he had encountered any adult "wild" aspie's...let alone an adult female "wild" aspie's. I felt like a lab rat being examined under a microscope during the whole thing. I was very uncomfortable, I basically ran out of there when he told me I had passed the evaluation but he was 100% sure after watching me for 3 days that I had aspergers (he said I was high functioning, and he wasn't even sure until the last part of day 2), and left it unconfirmed.

I had it confirmed a few years later at the insistence of the SO who was positive there just HAD to be some drug out there that would make me "normal". I was offered a choice of xanax or ativan to help cope with SO and my son who have ADHD, congratulated on adapting so well, and referred to a counselor at the time who had a teenage son with Asperger's she was trying to understand. No services, but best counselor I had ever had...I think we actually helped each other, and when she left 2 years later we both cried.   

Sounds like the first assessment was not something I could have dealt with. I was diagnosed based on an extensive history and clinical interview by a guy who talks at seminars about Autism and has a lot of letters after his name. He basically knew within less than an hour and didn't even ask me all the questions I thought he would... I actually asked him why he wasn't asking me these other things  But I was not diagnosed until 2014, when I was 39 and had pretty much given up on bothering for several years. I had suspected for 8 years but until 2014, there was not an adult diagnostic team here. It sounds like you have done well. I have not been offered a therapist... all they seem to want to offer me is bloody medications of various kinds.

[Graelwyn]

  I was diagnosed at age 40, by a psychologist at my state's occupational rehabilitation agency.
  I'd already been diagnosed with ADD and prescribed medication, which helped/continues to help with
  time management and focus, and I'd begun reading about Asperger's Syndrome.  I don't remember
  the thought process that led me to mention Asperger's to my case manager at the rehab agency.
  I did recognize my childhood social difficulties (what I thought of as "social tone deafness") as being
  possibly aspie-related.  I sometimes wonder if I was diagnosed wrongly, if the psychologist would have
  thought of it if I hadn't already asked to be evaluated for it. 

  I've been reading some irate comments online lately from people saying that nowadays anyone who's
  remotely awkward or eccentric is glibly labelled as being on the autistic spectrum.  The comment
  foremost in my mind is that legitimately autistic people have a really hard time functioning every day,
  no matter how well they "present," and I'm wondering if I've been wrong in considering myself to be
  on the spectrum.  One of my lifelong interests is human behavior and its underlying motivations
  (as a teenager I used to browse through psychology textbooks aand articles looking for explanations
  for my own oddness), and I've improved my social skills exponentially over the years, largely because
  of my reading, also because I've been at the same job for almost 30 years and have had the opportunity
  to study people for years on end, learning from their moods and behavior.  Aside from my (still) slightly
  eccentric aura and the stimming (yeah, that's another thing I think I mentioned when I was diagnosed)
  ... I wonder if I stole a label that doesn't fit.  Does this make sense?  I chose my username here because
  I'd read about a term, "autistic cousin," meaning someone with some autistic traits but not necessarily
  enough for an official diagnosis.  I wonder if my own diagnosis was given too easily.  Eh ... 

The man who diagnosed me suspected I also have ADD but didn't want to pursue that diagnosis at the same time as my Asperger's one. I used to study a lot about peoples behaviour, but more by reading true life stories and the like. It hasn't helped me a vast amount and I struggle to live an independent life in all honesty. I get by, but I still do not understand people, deal well with stress, manage my time well, manage certain simple tasks or manage to pass as so-called 'normal'. I also worried that my diagnosis was given too easily, as it took a lot less time than I had expected, but the guy is very qualified and I guess he also had a lot of history for me since I have been known to the mental health teams since I was around 13.

[Parts]

I got the unofficial word from the doctor doing my sons neuropsych evaluation.  My son got the Asperger's dx but he felt that some of it was that he was shadowing my behavior and he was sure that I had it also.  During the interview portion he said that he found my family history "fascinating"   We paid out of pocket for my sons testing and it was in the $3000 range because we needed it to get the schools to give him the services he needed, I don't need an official dx for any particular reason so I passed on paying for one.

[Graelwyn]

I got the unofficial word from the doctor doing my sons neuropsych evaluation.  My son got the Asperger's dx but he felt that some of it was that he was shadowing my behavior and he was sure that I had it also.  During the interview portion he said that he found my family history "fascinating"   We paid out of pocket for my sons testing and it was in the $3000 range because we needed it to get the schools to give him the services he needed, I don't need an official dx for any particular reason so I passed on paying for one.

Ah yes. Admittedly there was no way I would pay to get the diagnosis. I was fairly indifferent when the opportunity to see a specialist locally arose and by that point I had almost convinced myself it was just my imagination of something that I had it, in spite of an ambulance crew asking if I had support for my autism before I had even said anything about it prior to diagnosis lol. That and girls who knew me at school saying they realised a long time ago when a discussion about aspergers came up, that I had it when I contacted them to ask what they thought about the possibility. In truth, for me, he diagnosis came too late to be of any use to me because I had already had a lifetime of being criticised and put down for nit being normal and for not being able to do certain tasks well.

[MLA]

Yup.  Sounds like all of us. I didn't get any help cuz I didn't need any help.  I found WrongPlanet instead, and that place is super special.

[Gopher Gary]

I didn't get any help cuz I didn't need any help.

I've never needed help because I've always had someone to take care of me. 

[Graelwyn]

I didn't get any help cuz I didn't need any help.

I've never needed help because I've always had someone to take care of me. 

I wish I did. I mean, yeah, to a degree it is good I am pretty much living independently, but I struggle a great deal with it and wish now I shared my flat with someone or was in a house share. It is quite embarrassing to admit really, that I don't do so well living alone.