Starting my Adult Autism Diagnosis! | Journey to Autism Diagnosis

Hi Rachel! I went through the diagnostic process a few months at age 57. It was an emotional journey back through my life. In the end it was relief to finally confirm that I am truly different and to be able to precisely name at least part of my differences with neurotypical people. I'm still coming to terms with the fact I'm autistic, and how that fact impacts me. Especially regarding social functioning. It's led me to fully embrace my gifts and my quirks, and to be upfront about identifying as autistic with freinds, family, and aquintances. My aim is to avoid misunderstndings. I figure disclosing who I am will help others give me the support I need in social settings. If not, well, at least I tried. I hope you have a positive experience, and get the acceptance, respect, compassion and support everyone deserves. Good luck!

I, too am beginning my diagnosis process. It's such an exciting and anxiety-filled ride. The test you were referring to is called MBTI Myers-Briggs something. I took that, IQ test and another personality test for my ADHD assessment but that was when I was a teenager. This is my first assessment as an adult.

G’day Rachel, I’m a white 43yo male of Australia. I just stumbled across your story time part 1and 2 and subscribed. Your story is extremely similar to my life story I grew up calling it the lights on but no one‘s home syndrome LOL. Took me 20 years, I’ve been laughed at by doctors and treated for depression and anxiety but two years ago I finally got my diagnosis Autism. I’m still waiting for the possibly inattentive ADHD and dyslexia diagnosis. It’s funny that they make you do so much of it online, I feel they could learn so much more about you face-to-face. Good on you for pushing on with it, it can be a long hard journey. Nobody knows you like you know you! I think you’re definitely on the right track. I give you the thumbs up for autistic and wish you the best of luck with the rest of your diagnostic process. I look forward to following more of your journey.

Hi Rachel! I am starting my autism diagnosis journey too :) I just had a really rough experience and long-story-short ended up getting assessed by someone who had no idea what they were doing, so now I'm looking for a new doctor and it's super overwhelming!! Anyway, it's really cool and validating to see someone comfortably posting about being autistic without having a formal diagnosis yet, especially as someone who also wants to start a channel that incorporated content about ASD. I keep feeling like I have to wait until I get diagnosed, but maybe I should follow your lead instead. Good stuff, thanks for your work!! :)

I am going through embrace autism. I’m in the US but I love the setup and how it really covers everything. I have my Autism interview on the 30th of this month August. I am ready to be even more validated. I already know I am and professionals are behind on signs and what it looks like in women unfortunately. I’ve been deep researching for 5 years now. Glad I found your channel. 😀

I’m in the process of completing the assessment with them right now. It took me a week to finish the written questionnaire portion. I wrote 14 pages 😬 I probably did wayyyy too much 😂 now on to the psychometric tests 😅

I just started the screening process with Embrace Autism!

Thank you for sharing! I have an in person assessment from a local provider, that's 7 months from now. But I'm debating on doing the embrace autism assessment first.

lol we laugh alike. i took all those questionaries on that site and brought it to a psych that specialized in ASD + ADHD. it was very helpful for me, though some autists believe the questions can be a bit outdated/stereotypical. cant wait to hear more about your assessment process. ive heard nothing but good things about embrace autism.(im a north american, btw.)

Thank you so much for sharing this. I'm looking to get a diagnosis myself so I'd really appreciate it if you would continue documenting this process! I love your content. 😊

I seen a psychiatrist the other day and she didn’t think I had adhd so now I’m planing on going to see a psychologist also I have a learning disability only for math and processing memory on steps but other than that I’m good I think it’s mainly towards learning than ever but I did graduate high school just fine so I’m good either way

I subscribed to your channel SPECIFICALLY BC I LOVE THE NAME 🥰✨ your journey with embracing being autistic is helping soothe my fear that I’m not actually autistic. Everyone’s journey is their own, but i cant wait to binge thru all your content 🥰

Recently went through the same assessment process and know how "emotional" it made me. I live in the Netherlands, but am a UK/US citizen, so also used Embrace Autism for their tests, adding the results to my binder before seeing Dutch assessment team. Completed the same tests as you - and questioned their terminology too (this later turned out to be a common trait/issue amongst autists answering these same tests). Doing the tests really helped, both (theoretically) to help me anticipate the sorts of questions from the assessors (relieving my anxiety) - and on the journey to discovery/self-acceptance (something which I thought I had prepared for before formal dx process, but read further). I found the scoring baffling too, I scored in the 160's on the Cat-Q, which blew my mind! (not that this is meant in any way competitively). But none of these tests are actually diagnostic, that is down to the asessing psychologist. Finally, after several sessions and further testing/questions, I got my diagnosis 2 months ago. That released many - previously restrained - emotions and realisations. There was relief, but - possibly due to masking/disassociation - there was also conflict. Questions like "Am I autistic enough?"/ "Did I (somehow) fool the assessment process?"/etc. also flooded in. Making the diagnosis complicated emotionally. Slowly, I am coming to terms with this and beginning yet another journey into "what is an autistic life?" Getting the diagnosis is an important step for oneself, but is not the end of the journey, at least not for me. Just wanted to give you my experience of diagnosis so far - which seems to mirror that of many other ASD creators/vloggers. Hope all goes well for you.

im also doing the assesment with embraceautism going good so far have the video call appointment soon ^^

The same thing happened to me when I took the aspie quiz . I took it twice. The results said something about being on the asd cluster and having neurotypical traits the second time I took it. The first time I took it just said I had more autistic traits. I've seen other people say they get different results whenever they take the quiz so I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Any update on this? Did you receive the screening report yet? Can't wait to watch the next video.

I'm learning I'm autistic at 32 and I'm irritated that nobody picked up on the signs when I was hating my life as a kid.

Hi Rach - How much did this cost to do all these tests and send them in for an evaluation? Thanks

I was thinking to try embrace autism but I'm an European citizen, can I still sign in? Is it an international service or is it just for Canadians?