I think I might have autism. Is there a point to seeking a formal diagnosis? Are there any major drawbacks? (Canada)
I think I might have autism. Is there a point to seeking a formal diagnosis? Are there any major drawbacks? (Canada)
I've been wondering for quite a while if I have autism or not as I seem to hit a lot of the commonly reported symptoms and experiences. I recently tried some of the self-tests out there, including the ones on Embrace Autism, and yeah, I hit every single one I tried for mild to even moderate autism. Scored 49 on the rbq-2a for example.
Now, I know that none of those tests are conclusive and I could easily be a false positive, so I'm not directly claiming I have autism. But I'm thinking the next step is probably to talk to my primary care doctor, but to be honest I'm really hesitant to/don't completely trust the mental health system in Canada. Genuinely asking because I don't really have anyone in my personal life who has similar experiences or I think would understand: what do people here think about getting a formal diagnosis? Is it always something one should pursue if they suspect they're on the spectrum? Are there any major drawbacks? I'm especially concerned about it affecting my career prospects (which already aren't great tbh, my fault for getting a science degree in an already niche field which I deeply regret but that's a different story) or my ability to take out loans or rent an apartment by myself. I don't personally see my autism (if I have it) as a disability, but unfortunately in Canada it is still very much seen as such. Who am I required to disclose an autism diagnosis if I am diagnosed?
I'm really sorry if any of this comes off as insensitive. I have never really participated in the autism online community and I am in no way trying to put down people with autism, I'm honestly just kind of scared about what this means for me. Anyone else in a similar situation, or were in a similar situation? Care to share your experiences or have any advice?
Ok so I am going to start off by saying no as far as I know there is no real drawback to getting diagnosed,
But Fuck New Zealand and Australia, they will not, or atleast last i heard, someone with as autism get citizenship if they are not a citizen already as they would be " a drain on the healthcare system" if im wrong someone please correct me
Any sort of medical issue is seen as an instant denial in basically all immigration processes.
Any sort of mental disorder such as ADHD , Autism, BPD, Schizophrenia, etc make immigrating impossible.
Don’t bother trying to hide it either, the checks are insanely invasive and thorough, and the doctors will find everything.
That's the norm unfortunately. Immigration is not about the person immigrating, it's about if you're useful to the country. It's also the norm that typically the only real way to be let in on a work permit long term is if they specifically need people in your field (usually highly skilled white collar work and/or jobs that they have trouble filling locally). Speaking from experience as someone that immigrated as a young child from China to Canada with parents that got in through this exact route. There's a reason developing countries are experiencing brain drains, where do you think they're going? Too often do I wonder if our lives would be better if we stayed in China since we're not exactly doing superb over here, but I'm already a Canadian citizen, went through all of high school and university here, barely know how to read and write Chinese and am pretty far removed from the culture back there, so that ship has sailed.
Even though those same countries you mentioned literally frame their immigration programs as "look how much we're doing for those poor people in third world (sic) countries! we're such bastions of niceness and human rights!"
Honestly the economic situation in Canada definitely does not help. It's hard enough for a neurotypical person here to live a good life it seems. I know for a fact that the uncertainty of my future here has aggravated my anxiety disorder (diagnosed, medicated which does help at least to prevent panic attacks, but frankly I don't even know how much is actually anxiety "disorder" and how much is actual reasonable fear for how I'll survive). Probably interacts negatively with my possible autism too.
I don't know anything about Canada's laws regarding this topic specifically but I do know that self diagnosis is valid (I'm also self dx autistic!), and that neurotypical people usually don't suspect they're autistic at all.
Personally I'm not seeking an official dx cause there aren't any resources for autistic adults in the US.
Having an external diagnosis helped me fighting imposter syndrome, so worth it tbh
One of us! One of us!
Regarding potential drawbacks, I don't think there'd be any besides the time. I'm not Canadian but I think any anti-discrimination law would prevent any kind of "obligatory disclosure" and you could just apply without "disability." It might even be a crime for the doctor to disclose that without consent.
On my personal anecdote regarding self-diagonosis, I've been pretty sure I was autistic since fairly young. I generally think of it as "being autistic" or "having autistic behaviours" because I generally don't like how pathologised it sounds to say one "has" autism. I only got diagnosed literally last month because I was already going through some other harsher stuff and decided I might as well investigate that. The confirmation did not change my life a single bit, but it might be cool if you're having doubts.
I was also completely misdiagnosed as bipolar some years ago, so be careful that your doctor doesn't railroad you into some completely unrelated diagnosis that is medicable. I'm not completely anti-psychiatry but you should definitely do a deep dive on whether you really want to take a drug before you take it. Autism is generally not medicated (and most popular medications are actually harmful), so if the medication brands itself as "for autism" rather than some actual issue (i.e. social anxiety), change doctors ASAP.
As a general rule of thumb, if you're well acquainted with austism, old enough to know yourself well, and seriously thinking you might be autistic, I think it's very unlikely you're a complete neurotypical. But you could fit nicer in some adjacent spectrums such as ADHD.
We also have a neurodiverse comm here but it's rather dead right now. Would be really cool to populate that one again because we neurocooler folk tend to be either forgotten or just outright sectioned under capitalism.
Thank you! I'd honestly love to raise awareness for autism while meeting other autists. Will probably post more about my experiences under this account since it's far enough removed from my personal life that I feel comfortable doing so as long as I'm careful. Definitely need to do more research and weigh my options and ideally get more than one opinion for my real life diagnosis.
This doesn't quite answer your questions, but I think you might get a lot of out this video about the politics of self-diagnosis, institutional power, and marginalization. It's made by someone who was in a similar position to you and who ultimately did end up deciding to get formally diagnosed with autism (spoilers)
The other comments have covered a lot of the potential positives of a getting a diagnosis. Here's an article written by an autistic doctor on some of the drawbacks:
https://archive.ph/J6tXc (Archive link because medium wasn't showing the whole thing.)
In short, there's a lot of ableism, so it's important to think about what benefits you will personally receive from a formal diagnosis.
I'm not trying to dissuade you from getting one if it's something that you want to do you should go for it. I just wanted to share some info that made me think getting a formal diagnosis wasn't right for me.