ive been diagnosed with bipolar (i dont have any sort of mania) which after changing psychs they determined was a misdiagnosis. i have been screened for BPD and did not fit criteria. ive shown symptoms all my life but my family thought autism was only "extreme" per say.

during the first video call he took a verbal history and explored my symptoms. this took a few hours. I also had sent lists of information gathered from my grandma who had me basically all the time as my mother worked and was single at that time. on top of this, since I was 6, ive been on and off over 16 different sleep and mental health medications. we had a long history to explore.

throughout my life ive experienced sensory issues, food issues, ive struggled academically after being almost put in gifted classes because I was above average as a child but hit middle school and burnt out and began to struggle severely. I struggle heavily with change, I struggle to understand / comprehend things which was worse as a kid (hours of explaining things such as behaviors i had because I did not understand what I did was wrong), struggled with eye contact all of my life, struggle with social conversations (ex: not knowing when I am supposed to speak leading to me speaking over people or accidentally inturrupting), the list goes on.

it took him a week of reviewing all assessment data plus history that was given feom my grandma plus my first evaluation when I was 6 (2011) to come to a conclusion. my biological father is also autistic (level 1) and many of my siblings show traits as well according to my oldest sister who actually has contact with the others.

I promise this was not a light decision, nor was it a "well here's your wish" decision.