My doctor ordered me a pack of forms and questionnaires to request an assessment for adult autism. In amongst the medical histories and self assessments, this question stuck out;
it is important to know that not everyone who is referred to our service will have a diagnosis of autism confirmed. In the space below, tell us how you think having an autism diagnosis confirmed, or not, might impact on you and your life
What’s going on here? Do you get asked this for other conditions? We’re a community that typically struggles to read between the lines, so I could be way off, but this feels grudging to me. It’s a question that says - what’s the point of us even offering this service, and why are you so special that we should waste our time on you?
Ooh good thought. Like employment / legal / child custody type problems. That would make me a lot happier with the question (and mad that it’s necessary)
Could also have the other side of the problem. Some people can expect a diagnosis to completely solve everything in their lives. People may have unrealistic expectation towards their diagnosis. In that case it could also help the doctor calm down those expectation before giving the diagnosis in order to not hurt them too much.