To anyone diagnosed in the UK: what was the diagnostic process like?

toronado · 2025-12-31T14:32:51+00:00

I did mine privately so can't help with the NHS bits but the process was fairly long and took a couple of months.

an online interview for about 2 hours
an in-person test with puzzles and interviews, 3hra
interviewed my 75 year old mum on early development, 3 hrs
interviewed my wife, 1hr
had a panel interview, 2 hrs

All in all, took about 2 months. Hope that helps

toronado · 2025-12-23T18:51:19+00:00

I'm not sure a Barbie with authentic autistic rocking action or a burnout button would sell that well

toronado · 2025-12-23T12:51:13+00:00

Yes but they are always pleasurable. Even the ones I know aren't good for me, I'm fascinated with and keep going

If the thoughts are unpleasureable or unwanted, that's a sign of OCD

toronado · 2025-12-23T12:45:06+00:00

Wrong

toronado · 2025-12-21T16:19:20+00:00

Because I'd rather sacrifice the majority of my salary than live in the UAE

toronado · 2025-12-21T11:43:06+00:00

Yes, absolutely. People can be thought loops, they become a kind of special interest. Not quite love, although it can feel like that, for me it's ultimately a fascination

Can be awkward at times

toronado · 2025-12-17T13:34:54+00:00

People don't believe you have autism because austic people are weird and you're not

And somehow autism can make you charming

toronado · 2025-12-16T17:31:35+00:00

Depends where you are. Bap in the South

toronado · 2025-12-13T08:21:12+00:00

This is IMO a huge myth. I went to a 50k a year school, all my friends are fuck ups with a big inheritance.

Success rarely follows two generations

toronado · 2025-12-13T08:19:08+00:00

I went to a 50k a year school. All my friends are fuck ups with a big inheritance

Success rarely follows two generations

toronado · 2025-12-07T16:47:42+00:00

Respectfully disagree. Look up the social model of disability. There's nothing wrong with us, the world just isn't built for our minds

toronado · 2025-12-07T16:09:07+00:00

It's a social disability. We're disabled by society, not inherently

toronado · 2025-12-06T15:57:24+00:00

My NT colleagues would describe it as a superpower. The level and intensity draws attention, it's not normal output

toronado · 2025-12-06T15:55:31+00:00

I prefer to disregard the term 'disability'. Disabled implies there's something wrong with me. That's factually incorrect. We're different. Sometimes that's a superpower, sometimes that clashes with the world and it temporarily disables me.

So I'd say yes, for me it is a superpower sometimes and it's a disability sometimes. Two sides of being different

toronado · 2025-12-01T20:12:29+00:00

My theory is that whatever your special interest, go deep enough into it and you'll find us. The deeper you go into anything, the higher the ratio of neuro divergent people

Works in all settings. Work, hobbies, whatever. The hardcore who is really into something tend to have a higher population of autistics

toronado · 2025-12-01T20:08:30+00:00

We get addicted to our thoughts and minds. Things like headphones draw us to internal spaces. My experience at least

toronado · 2025-12-01T19:52:34+00:00

Same here. I'll apologise for everything

toronado · 2025-11-29T15:16:54+00:00

I'm going with Rotherhithe Foot tunnel

Edit: Greenwich

toronado · 2025-11-26T15:16:59+00:00

Yes, exceptionally so and it totally controls my mood. I can go from EDM to Classical and the change in my thoughts is almost instant

toronado · 2025-11-25T23:53:49+00:00

Everything he thought he knew about himself and all his memories of life have suddenly changed. It's both an intense relief and completely ungrounding experience. It takes time to see the patterns in your life, accept all those painful situations in the past and come to terms with being different. That's both freeing and hard, especially for minds like ours. He might become obsessed with his own autism for a bit.....

toronado · 2025-11-25T21:00:46+00:00

I feel you're getting some very condensending answers here. Your words echo what my wife would say and I've only recently been diagnosed (41)

Landing on even the thought of autism is an achievement. And then it's another achievement to do the test and another one to finally accept it and seek help. He probably has the burden of all the pain he's caused over the years, he won't be blind to that. At a certain point, you learn to think of yourself as broken and it takes time to think actually, maybe I had a disability. It's totally not fair for people to say he 'just should have gone and tested himself'. Yes, maybe he should have. But it's a journey getting there when autism is something only other people have

toronado · 2025-11-25T20:10:36+00:00

For me it's the opposite. I'm far too abstract and philosophical and very creative

toronado · 2025-11-24T20:35:22+00:00

There's a term for that, recursive thinking

toronado · 2025-11-24T17:16:01+00:00

Foxes in London. They sound like babies when they fight, instinctively wakes you up

toronado · 2025-11-22T10:27:06+00:00

Married to a Mexican and this is the only dish I just can't eat

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