How does one seek an autism diagnosis as a middle-aged adult (Seattle)

December 17, 2020 8:14 AM

For those who have been diagnosed on the Autism spectrum as a mature adult, how does one go about doing this? I would especially appreciate resources in the Seattle area, but if you or someone close to you went through a similar process in another place, that would be helpful to know too.

Seeking answers from those who have experienced this directly, not just read about it.

I am nearly 55 years old and have been learning a lot from Autistic Twitter, that has caused me to reevaluate some facts about my life and family history, and I think I would benefit from seeking a diagnosis. I have felt for a couple of decades that all of the men in my family are autistic, but since I am AFAB, I present atypically and am very skilled at masking, even to myself.

I did look on the UW Medicine website but they want a lot of documentation that I do not have, as well as talking to people who knew you as a child, which is problematic at this point since those folks are either dead or far away.

I'm interested in providers that are neurodiversity-positive, support adult autistic self-advocacy, and stigma-free. LGBTQ awareness would be a plus (I am cis but identify as Queer).

Please contact the mods if you want to post an answer without revealing your username.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (6 answers total)

I know someone who was just diagnosed at 37. I don't want to give away too much, but basically, they've had some persistent mental health issues that neither therapy nor medication was successfully addressing. Like you, they found some ASD social media accounts, and things resonated. They asked their existing provider for a referral to an ASD specialist, who then made the diagnosis.

I was a little skeptical when I first heard, because this person doesn't seem like a textbook case. They didn't necessarily think they were autistic either, but the big thing was that they were finding the ASD social media to be helpful in terms of both making sense of life messiness and "coping" strategies. So that's kind of the moral of the story I'm telling you: that yes, ASD social media can be pretty useful in terms of sorting things out for yourself.
posted by kevinbelt at 8:28 AM on December 17, 2020

Anonymous answer:

Brooks Powers doesn't mention working with adults on their website, but they did testing for me (not autism related) as an adult. They figured out that my kid was autistic -- something that several other organizations and people had missed -- through the ADOS test.

posted by loup at 12:05 PM on December 17, 2020

Since you are AFAB I'm going to strongly encourage you to make sure you see someone who specializes in AFAB adults. Autism presents differently in many AFAB folks, and by the time we reach adulthood we are often so proficient at masking that we don't outwardly present, even if internally all the same stuff is going on. In addition, much of the data about how autism presents differently in AFAB folks is "new," and lots of practitioners don't keep up with this stuff. Even more don't have experience with adults.

I would recommend contacting AANE (The Autism and Asperger's Network) and scheduling a (free) call. They will likely be able to help you find someone who specializes in this work. (Insurance is another issue, and these things can be pricey, so talk to them about that too.)
posted by schadenfrau at 3:18 PM on December 17, 2020 [1 favorite]

You might also check with Autistic Women & Nonbinary Network to see if they have any Seattle provider pointers.
posted by bixfrankonis at 4:17 PM on December 17, 2020

if you're in NYC, I know someone who is great, feel free to message me. I also recommend following @mykola on Twitter who talks about this pretty often.
posted by todolos at 6:53 PM on December 17, 2020

Recommended by a friend: a 46-minute YouTube video in which Nine Autistic Adults Discuss Their Autism Diagnosis Process. (Caveat: I have not watched it.)
posted by heatherlogan at 2:40 PM on December 20, 2020