[OU Student]

Has anyone ever gone private to get a proper diagnosis? My GP thinks that one hour is adequate to obtain a diagnosis. Right, so that's why Southampton's DRAC (or is it DARC?) assessments last for a good 6 - 8 hours.

[Fail Whale]

(Original post by OU Student)
Has anyone ever gone private to get a proper diagnosis? My GP thinks that one hour is adequate to obtain a diagnosis. Right, so that's why Southampton's DRAC (or is it DARC?) assessments last for a good 6 - 8 hours.

I had a "proper" assessment and it only lasted 2 hours tops. Most of it was actually with my parents and I had to sit outside and wait, then she talked to me for about 20 minutes at the end.
As long as they get all the information they need to make the diagnosis, there's no reason why the assessment needs to be particularly long.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Fail Whale)
I had a "proper" assessment and it only lasted 2 hours tops. Most of it was actually with my parents and I had to sit outside and wait, then she talked to me for about 20 minutes at the end.
As long as they get all the information they need to make the diagnosis, there's no reason why the assessment needs to be particularly long.

I don't think they got all the information they needed, hence asking for someone to assess me properly. I was told a few weeks ago that I was just screened. From previous experience, that means nothing. It just means there's a chance I have it. I have no proof at all that I've got some form of Autism and what issues I have. Apart from stuff about issues with my hearing and sight being too sensitive. (neither are anything to do with Autism)

[FPRider]

(Original post by Anonymous)
Hi
I am starting university in a week and I just wanted to ask for some reassurance/information. I am VERY anxious in social situations, and only one year ago I was shut up in my house, without the ability to venture outside! (for about two years)
Particularly, I wanted to know what TUTORIALS are like? Are you expected to contribute verbally in them?
Just for extra information, I am moving to London for university (and it is a very good one - so, I am not sure if that will change the circumstances of what is expected of me?)

p.s. I have not informed the university of my anxiety.

I wanted to mention here that I am going to be vlogging stuff like this in the near future - I would suggest however that you need to inform the Disability Officer of your anxiety issues so long as you have an official diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, as not informing them will not allow you entitled access to 'reasonable adjustments' or support.

When I start tutorials, I'll post here giving a basic laydown, but I can't guarantee anything at the moment.

[Watch Key Phone]

(Original post by FPRider)
I wanted to mention here that I am going to be vlogging stuff like this in the near future - I would suggest however that you need to inform the Disability Officer of your anxiety issues so long as you have an official diagnosis of Asperger Syndrome, as not informing them will not allow you entitled access to 'reasonable adjustments' or support.

When I start tutorials, I'll post here giving a basic laydown, but I can't guarantee anything at the moment.

People can get disability support for anxiety whether or not they have Asperger's - if it is affecting their studies, they are entitled to help.

[FPRider]

(Original post by Amwazicles)
People can get disability support for anxiety whether or not they have Asperger's - if it is affecting their studies, they are entitled to help.

I was more referring to the fact that the anxiety is a side product of having Aspergers. Sorry if I was not that clear cut. :<

[Anonymous]

(Original post by FPRider)
I was more referring to the fact that the anxiety is a side product of having Aspergers. Sorry if I was not that clear cut. :<

I see what you mean - don't worry.

[Mrx123]

Im slowly starting to hate my life, Uni is slowly getting bad, everyone has good friends and most people just say hi and thats it and don't see much point in continuing in anything anymore, Aspergers makes everything so hard

[Mrx123]

I just want to cry

[Anonymous]

It's a hard life having Aspergers Syndrome, struggling to make friends and go out socially has always been very hard for me, afraid of not being accepted by anyone and I've been bullied in the past so that hasn't helped me at all. I'm a 22 yr old male and I've written this so people can know my story, I hope it dosent bore you and I hope to one day meet more people with Aspergers who just might understand.


As a kid, I loved Horses and I never understood why I did and still do but all I knew was that I wanted to ride them abdly, spent hours riding and not stopping but never got the chance to do so and I feel gutted about that because I was afraid that people would laugh at me and call me gay or something


I was diagnosed when I was 13 years old but they spent eight years testing me for it and ever since that day, I slowly got worse and worse with my confidence, eventually it left altogether, I didn't care about anything or anyone anymore, I just wanted to be left alone and I even wanted to end it all at one point but I made a promise to myself that I would never do something like that and that I would always find a way back and so far I have kept my word.


I can remember a time when I was a very happy person and it was all before I knew I had Aspergers, I had good friends and I can't ever remember getting angry about anything, life was great as a kid for me but it was when I entered my teen years that my life fell apart, my so called friends stabbed me in the back and left me alone for five years, I didnt have another friend until I left for college. My GCSES suffered because of my depression, that and I was taken out of many classes and placed on a flexible learning course with other students who struggled but they all just messed around and I couldn't concentrate at all.


I joined college when I was sixteen despite horrible GCSES and weirdly enough I started to turn things around, I started talking to people and made friends. I decided to join Drama since I love acting BUT EVERYTHING that happened to me in school finally surfaced and I got so stressed one day in class that I was recommended to see a cousellor who I told everything, things I could never tell my parents and I felt great afterwards, like a new person, like I had been wearing an Iron Mask all of my life and I taken it off for the very first time and my marks shot up, I even found a girlfriend who i'm still with today. I ended with a DDD and a place at University, I felt fantastic and looked forward to the future.


I was so happy that after so many years of studying my way out of the hole that school had dug for me, I had done what they said I could never do but after I arrived at University, I wished I had never bothered in trying to go in the first place. Freshers week was awful.


I hated it, all everyone wanted to do was go out everynight and get as drunk as they could, I'm not that kind of person and because of that I really struggled to fit in with anyone, Freshers Week was the worst week of my life. I've always been a quiet person and a few people at Uni have called me that before so I got depressed and wanted to quit but for some reason, I decided to keep going and to not give up or everyone at home would have been right all along that I wouldn't be able to cope with the stress.


I slowly liked it a little more as time got on but whenever we had group work to do, I hated it because I always convince myself that noone will want to work with me and that noone likes me I have always worked better alone. I can never take a joke and I take everything seriosuly, I was once an hour late for a meeting and I got so depressed, I cried all afternoon over it. It's like I think if I slip then I'll go back to others making choices for me and I'll never get to do what I want with my life again, I'll be babied because noone thinks I can do it by myself or my school does, College believed in me and helped me grow up as a person.


I am now a 2 nd year University Drama student and I set it upon myself to give myself more social oppourtunites by joining a few societies so I can get out of my room more but I'm still terrified that noone will like me and I'll stay alone, my girlfriend is very worried about me and thinks I should quit if I'm getting depressed, she wants me to be happy but I don't want to give up after everything that I've fought for just because some people don't talk to me, I'm a human being and I have to put some effort in as well I've spent too long assuming that friends will come to me, I have to leave my shell and keep trying, after all what do I have to lose.....


Whether I fail or succeed, I can at least say I tried my best but I refuse to go down without a fight.

[Manderson38]

I was diagnoseAS and had problems with other people and what they are doing, then i began a physics degree on the Open University. I have no problems, i'm doing great. No stress, no hassles, no class full of students demanding attention. It is something to do, it is ongoing and although there are deadlines, there is plenty of time to meet them and i usually end up finishing tasks early. The only problem is, i have a lack of people to share my scientific interest.

[Anonymous]

(Original post by Anonymous)
<Story>

It's good you shared. Can be quite daunting, particularly during Freshers - I never really joined that much this week, but societies certainly can be a bit more easier in comparison to the whole "get drunk everyday" routine.

I would definitely advise if you wish to see a counselor within the university or speak to your personal tutor if you have one - the fact you've already felt that it's helped in the past would certainly suggest that using one now would be more than sufficient - worst case scenario, you could always request to hold your studies (least that's what I've been told for my course if I need to do so)



On an unrelated note, I've put up my first vlog yesterday onto the YouTubes; it's nothing too specific, but I thought it'd be a good test run. I'd definitely welcome comments on that video where possible (in the comments section please, as I'll probably not be checking here as much now!)

[FPRider]

Bah, I wish Anonymous posting was automatically off by default.

Ah well, I'll live with it now. This was the link I was mentioning above.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVVJX...=ULCVVJXtFsJiM

[The Marshall]

(Original post by member591354)
Hi! I talked to you once on here on a different account. I understand where you are coming from. Moderators are typically very unhelpful.

Oh yes, I remember you, how you doing?

[The Marshall]

(Original post by Anonymous)
It's a hard life having Aspergers Syndrome, struggling to make friends and go out socially has always been very hard for me, afraid of not being accepted by anyone and I've been bullied in the past so that hasn't helped me at all. I'm a 22 yr old male and I've written this so people can know my story, I hope it dosent bore you and I hope to one day meet more people with Aspergers who just might understand.


As a kid, I loved Horses and I never understood why I did and still do but all I knew was that I wanted to ride them abdly, spent hours riding and not stopping but never got the chance to do so and I feel gutted about that because I was afraid that people would laugh at me and call me gay or something


I was diagnosed when I was 13 years old but they spent eight years testing me for it and ever since that day, I slowly got worse and worse with my confidence, eventually it left altogether, I didn't care about anything or anyone anymore, I just wanted to be left alone and I even wanted to end it all at one point but I made a promise to myself that I would never do something like that and that I would always find a way back and so far I have kept my word.


I can remember a time when I was a very happy person and it was all before I knew I had Aspergers, I had good friends and I can't ever remember getting angry about anything, life was great as a kid for me but it was when I entered my teen years that my life fell apart, my so called friends stabbed me in the back and left me alone for five years, I didnt have another friend until I left for college. My GCSES suffered because of my depression, that and I was taken out of many classes and placed on a flexible learning course with other students who struggled but they all just messed around and I couldn't concentrate at all.


I joined college when I was sixteen despite horrible GCSES and weirdly enough I started to turn things around, I started talking to people and made friends. I decided to join Drama since I love acting BUT EVERYTHING that happened to me in school finally surfaced and I got so stressed one day in class that I was recommended to see a cousellor who I told everything, things I could never tell my parents and I felt great afterwards, like a new person, like I had been wearing an Iron Mask all of my life and I taken it off for the very first time and my marks shot up, I even found a girlfriend who i'm still with today. I ended with a DDD and a place at University, I felt fantastic and looked forward to the future.


I was so happy that after so many years of studying my way out of the hole that school had dug for me, I had done what they said I could never do but after I arrived at University, I wished I had never bothered in trying to go in the first place. Freshers week was awful.


I hated it, all everyone wanted to do was go out everynight and get as drunk as they could, I'm not that kind of person and because of that I really struggled to fit in with anyone, Freshers Week was the worst week of my life. I've always been a quiet person and a few people at Uni have called me that before so I got depressed and wanted to quit but for some reason, I decided to keep going and to not give up or everyone at home would have been right all along that I wouldn't be able to cope with the stress.


I slowly liked it a little more as time got on but whenever we had group work to do, I hated it because I always convince myself that noone will want to work with me and that noone likes me I have always worked better alone. I can never take a joke and I take everything seriosuly, I was once an hour late for a meeting and I got so depressed, I cried all afternoon over it. It's like I think if I slip then I'll go back to others making choices for me and I'll never get to do what I want with my life again, I'll be babied because noone thinks I can do it by myself or my school does, College believed in me and helped me grow up as a person.


I am now a 2 nd year University Drama student and I set it upon myself to give myself more social oppourtunites by joining a few societies so I can get out of my room more but I'm still terrified that noone will like me and I'll stay alone, my girlfriend is very worried about me and thinks I should quit if I'm getting depressed, she wants me to be happy but I don't want to give up after everything that I've fought for just because some people don't talk to me, I'm a human being and I have to put some effort in as well I've spent too long assuming that friends will come to me, I have to leave my shell and keep trying, after all what do I have to lose.....


Whether I fail or succeed, I can at least say I tried my best but I refuse to go down without a fight.

Believe me, I am facing the same sitaution as you, I'm bullied, but I've learnt how to stand up to it, but social skills is my weakness, also the fact that many autistic people suffer during GSCEs. If they hadn't had that weakness, they would have been getting A*s by now.

[The Marshall]

(Original post by Manderson38)
I was diagnoseAS and had problems with other people and what they are doing, then i began a physics degree on the Open University. I have no problems, i'm doing great. No stress, no hassles, no class full of students demanding attention. It is something to do, it is ongoing and although there are deadlines, there is plenty of time to meet them and i usually end up finishing tasks early. The only problem is, i have a lack of people to share my scientific interest.

Man, my intrests are usally to do with History, and there is quite a lot of lack of people to share with it!

[Fail Whale]

I wish I had a useful special interest like history or science. I get kind of jealous sometimes because I can't get a degree in mine.
I suppose it could be worse, though ... I was very interested in child murders at one point but luckily it didn't develop into a fully fledged special interest. :P

[OU Student]

(Original post by Fail Whale)
I suppose it could be worse, though ... I was very interested in child murders at one point but luckily it didn't develop into a fully fledged special interest. :P

One of my special interests is serial killers. Not something I'd really want to admit to, mind.

Other special interests include film, running, music and football.

[OU Student]

Really could do with some help:

University won't help me obtain a diagnosis. They told me that I just need to write in my profile what my needs are. What needs? No-one has assessed me properly and I can't identify them myself.

It would be so much easier if someone would actually bother to diagnose me.

[camelid]

Under the Autism Act 2009, each PCT should be sorting out health and social care teams specifically to deal with Autism. The National Autistic Society should be able to help you to identify the pathway for diagnosis in your area. Some areas do not yet have teams in place, but those areas are often "spot-purchasing" clinical assessments from nearby areas which already have arrangements in place. This often has to be started off by a GP contacting the commissioning person in the local Primary Care Trust and requesting a referral. Unfortunately, in some areas, Gps refer to Mental Health teams, where the response can be that they will not assess someone, unless they present with severe clinical depression, for example.In other areas , it can be the Learning Disabilities teams, who often say that someone with Asperger Syndrome has too high an IQ for them to deal with them. The Autism Act is meant to stop this this and ensure that people are assessed by staff who are properly trained and who can then help with care plans with social services or Disabled Student Advisors.If you have not already done so, it may be helpful to complete the three questionnaires by Simon Baron-Cohen, which are available online and which help to produce a profile. The Adult Asperger Assessment is available online
www.mdjunction.com and
www.autismresearchcentre.com/arc_tests These can help to highlight areas of difficulty.

It beggars belief that someone who is paid to sort out reasonable adjustments for disabled students does not seem to appreciate that the very communication issues which people with Asperger Syndrome have by definition, make it incredibly hard for that student to be able to identify the needs.

It may be that you could benefit from special exam arrangements, particular seating arrangements, lighting, access to a wordprocessor in a separate room for exams if there are issues about having others too close, sitting behind you and if if you have processing problems. Help with visiting libraries, mentoring, special software to help with work /essay/notes organisation.Provision of training to use the software, refund of costs of paper, inks, photocopying, extra book allowance etc are all available through the Disabled Student Allowance system and the relevant advisor should know about all of these things, but an up-to-date assessment would really help to pinpoint what should be provided.

I paid for an assessment by an autism expert in order to get this in place quickly for my student son, who has Asperger Syndrome. This triggered the help available via DSA ASSESSMENT and the UNI, whilst I fought to get a clinical assessment[took 14 months] to get social services community care assessment and further package of help for the rest of his life, when needed. Areas should be making progress and have some process on stream now in respect of providing clinical assessments and support packages. I have details of the magic legal phrases to quote to galvanise them into action. Please feel free to PM me if you need more support or want more details.