Latest / Aspergers & Autism Podcast [The Aspie World] AuDHD / Autism Late Diagnosis - Everything YOU NEED To Know (5 ESSENTIALS)
Transcript
- 0:00Autism and a Late Diagnosis. This is Everything You Need to
- 0:03Know from 5 Essential Tips to Help You once you have a
- 0:06diagnosis later on in life. Hey guys, welcome back to the
- 0:16aspy world. My name is Dan, I have Autism,
- 0:18ADHD, OCD, and dyslexia and I make weekly videos all about
- 0:22this stuff. So if you're on your around here
- 0:24and you'd like to learn more and see more videos, remember to hit
- 0:26the subscribe button by clicking on notification bell down below.
- 0:29If you're watching over on Facebook, which is to follow
- 0:30this page, and if you're watching on Instagram, make sure
- 0:33to give this account a follow us for some more autism content.
- 0:36OK guys, welcome back. What is up?
- 0:38Different thinker fam. The place where we think
- 0:40differently daily. Yeah, it's good.
- 0:43It's, it's good. It's December for me.
- 0:45I don't know when you watching this video, but it's December
- 0:47right now. It's cold and it's like minus
- 0:48whatever outside. But it still doesn't stop me.
- 0:50It's saying to you guys that I have a free Autism Life Hacks
- 0:53PDF book that you can download right now for free at
- 0:55autismhacks.net. Do that now, guys.
- 0:58What's going on? Late autism diagnosis.
- 1:01Oh gosh, this is a good one because I was diagnosed 26 years
- 1:05old with Asperger's syndromes. This is a really late diagnosis
- 1:08of autism. But I do know of people who
- 1:10diagnosed in their 70s. I did an interview on my podcast
- 1:13with a woman who released a book because about her mother, who
- 1:17her mother was in the 70s and diagnosed with autism.
- 1:19Absolutely fantastic, really interesting, insightful book.
- 1:22And if you want to check out my podcast, it's linked down below
- 1:25in the description of this video, but definitely check out
- 1:27my podcast to do, you know, weekly podcast episodes and it's
- 1:30super awesome. Anyway, so late diagnosis ain't
- 1:34no mystery or new thing or new concept, but typically people
- 1:38are diagnosed between the age of three and five years old with an
- 1:41autism spectrum disorder. But if you're unlucky enough to
- 1:44for them to notice it when you're younger, probably in your
- 1:4820s to 30s is typically when they'll diagnose it later on in
- 1:51life. And this can kind of leave you
- 1:52very lost. And I didn't know anything when
- 1:55I was diagnosed with autism. They basically said OK, you got
- 1:57asked where to syndrome an HD and OCD and all this stuff, and
- 2:00then they said OK, he's a I think it was a leaflet and a DVD
- 2:02to watch. It was terrible.
- 2:04And then they said see you later and like push you out the door.
- 2:06I was like, OK, but then they assigned me an awesome
- 2:09development worker and he was great.
- 2:11And he actually invited me to all these groups and all
- 2:13everything. And then he kind of taught me
- 2:14how all ways of like how to access, support and help and all
- 2:17these things. And it was just absolutely
- 2:18fantastic. So I do salute that guy
- 2:21amazingly well because he just, he was just so awesome.
- 2:23It was just amazing. So that brings me to thinking,
- 2:26well, maybe I could like jot down five of the most, like
- 2:29interesting and essential kind of tips and strategies that I
- 2:31had after I was diagnosed. I could hand on to you guys
- 2:33because after all, I'm just trying to help you and that
- 2:36would be a beautiful thing. So let's get stuck into these
- 2:39five essentials for you guys. Okay.
- 2:41So number one is search for local authority.
- 2:44So doing research for your local kind of authority to support and
- 2:47help for autism is your first point of call.
- 2:50Now they will be able to direct you to all support assets and
- 2:54avenues that they have available.
- 2:56Now, depending where you are in the world, your government or
- 2:58local authorities may have autism programs themselves.
- 3:01But if they don't, they'll be able to say, oh, look, we don't
- 3:03offer any support, but we do know this charity or this one
- 3:05that we do work with because at the end of the day, there is a
- 3:07duty of care around autism and local authorities need to be on
- 3:11it. You know, I've done loads of
- 3:12meetings with councils and local authorities and governments
- 3:14about the fact that, you know, they have autism provisions in
- 3:17place to help people and access support and help.
- 3:19And, you know, all those things are in place.
- 3:21So definitely do this. First of all, local authorities
- 3:25and see what help and support that they offer for people on
- 3:27the autism spectrum. And a bonus tip here is speak to
- 3:31your utility energy providers and ask them if there's any
- 3:35additional support for people who are disabled.
- 3:37Because if you have an autism spectrum diagnosis then that is
- 3:39registered as disabled and classed as disabled.
- 3:41Now all energy providers do have additional services that they've
- 3:44bolt on for free because you're disabled or vulnerable person in
- 3:47their eyes, which is a great thing to know that you are, you
- 3:50know, eligible for that and why not?
- 3:53You know you, it's there to for you and help you, so definitely
- 3:55check that out. OK, so #2 is look for local
- 3:58autism charities. Now locating your autism charity
- 4:01is a must, your local one at least, because you know they
- 4:04have access points to help you in certain situations.
- 4:06Now there are a bunch of different autism charities all
- 4:09over the world and in every town, every city, in every
- 4:11state, everywhere in the world. So I would say the first thing
- 4:15you do is just go onto Google, you know, key in autism, support
- 4:18your local area and see what comes up.
- 4:20And actually a better tip than this is to go on Facebook and
- 4:23just type it in in, you know, you know, autism charities, my
- 4:27area, and see what comes up because that is going to be
- 4:30your, your kind of initial introduction to support from a
- 4:34charitable side of things. OK, so #3 I found super
- 4:37important was autism support groups.
- 4:39So when I was diagnosed, I had so much help from actually
- 4:42visiting autism support groups and I'm just going there and
- 4:46listening to the talks and conversing with other people in
- 4:48them. So what I would do is I just go
- 4:50on Facebook and type in autism support groups and you may find
- 4:53a Facebook group doing it like a digital one.
- 4:55But usually because your location is set on Facebook,
- 4:58because Facebook knows where you are in the world, when you go
- 5:00and type into Facebook like awesome support groups in my
- 5:02area, they'll find you a support group in your area that will
- 5:06have actually a physical kind of meet ups or whatever or support
- 5:10kind of chats and stuff like that.
- 5:12Absolutely amazing. I found this so, so helpful and
- 5:15I really loved it. Yeah, I really did love it.
- 5:16OK, so #4 is tell your work or school.
- 5:19So one of the things that I did as soon as I was diagnosed was
- 5:22tell my friends, family and and place of work that I was on the
- 5:26spectrum. Because you know, all these
- 5:28people will have a duty of care regards to their family, friends
- 5:31or even just a coworker. They'll have a duty of care for
- 5:34you. You as a person, you still
- 5:35matter, You still have feelings and you know and they still care
- 5:38about you. So I would say that tell them
- 5:40straight away because then they'll, you know, you start off
- 5:42on the right foot. You don't want to spring it on
- 5:44them about five years after and be like, Oh yeah, by the way,
- 5:45dude, I'm on the auto inspection, so I'm not going to
- 5:47come to that company retreat. They're going to be like, oh,
- 5:49you never told us this. Like, you know, imagine all
- 5:51those years of help and support that they could have given you
- 5:53because there are reasonable adjustments that people can, you
- 5:56know, put in place at work in schools and colleges and
- 5:59universities. So definitely tell those people
- 6:01that you're spending most of your time with because it's
- 6:04important that they know. OK, so a #5 is carrying on from
- 6:07#4, which is tell your friends and family.
- 6:08The first thing I did was tell my friends and family because,
- 6:11you know, they're the people who are around you most of the time
- 6:14and they're going to be the ones who would want to know.
- 6:16And those are the people who will support you through pretty
- 6:18much everything and they're going to be there for you.
- 6:20So if they can understand you better, then tell them straight
- 6:22away. This is the first thing I did.
- 6:24I I just literally went to my my family straight away.
- 6:27I was like, hey, I'm on the Austin spectrum.
- 6:28And they were like, OK, cool, what's this?
- 6:30We'll have to check it out. We don't understand what what it
- 6:32is, blah, blah, blah. But then also they were like, Oh
- 6:34yeah, this makes sense because I've seen somebody who's on the
- 6:35Austin spectrum and you very much resemble that person, yada,
- 6:38yada. Everything's great.
- 6:39It was cool. So telling friends and family is
- 6:42a must and I highly recommend just doing that.
- 6:44If you guys have anything to add to these tips, then pop it in a
- 6:46comment down below. I'd love to have that discussion
- 6:48with you and also if you want to share this because it might be a
- 6:51value, share it on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and give
- 6:53this video a thumbs up. I'll see you next time guys.