I’m sorry if this is insensitive or if this has been asked already, but I would like some feedback from the ASD community about this.

I’ve always been kind of socially awkward, I am generally uncomfortable with meeting new people outside of professional environments, and prolonged eye-contact, even with close friends, is weird for me. My older sister was the first to bring up the idea, after she had a kid who potentially had autism, that I might also be on the spectrum. And within the last few months my mom also brought it up that I might be on the spectrum. She never had me tested because I was born in '95 and, by her account, testing just wasn’t common except for more extreme cases.

But she suggested that I should get tested, and honestly I don’t know how I feel about it. It’s not that I’m worried about being on the spectrum but I feel like there’s no point in knowing because what would it change for me? I personally don’t see how knowing would benefit me; and even if I am on the spectrum, my ignorance of it doesn’t seem to be harming me. I worry that knowing for sure will just give me an excuse, and thus far I’ve done fine without knowing, I might even argue that not knowing (if I am on the spectrum) has just forced me to improve myself, develop my ability to empathize and be introspective, and enhance my social skills. To me, getting tested would just mean putting an unnecessary label on myself that doesn’t actually define me.

What are your opinions? Also, what is the testing procedure like? Would it even be accurate given that I’m almost 30 and have already had to learn through experience how to properly interact with people socially?

I appreciate whatever advice or anecdotes you can provide.

Edit: I also want to apologize if any of my terminology is offensive, I’m working off of the mainstream knowledge I have about ASD, so if it’s out of date it’s truly because of ignorance and not malice.

  • zarmanto@lemmy.worldEnglish
    81·
    1 year ago

    Full disclosure: I have not been officially tested by a doctor, myself, because depending upon your insurance, it can be pretty expensive. So money could certainly be one very valid reason to not get tested. On the other side of that, my wife and I did choose to have our kids tested, so that they can take advantage of options that such a diagnosis opens up within the public school system. You obviously aren’t looking towards that path, yourself, but that doesn’t mean it is entirely without value.

    That said, I did take the online test, which is primarily targeted at an adult audience and which (unsurprisingly) showed very strong indicators that I’m also autistic. I would suggest starting there. The way I look at it, knowledge is a tool; you get to decide how (or if) to use that tool. And when the barrier to obtaining that knowledge is low, it’s worth the effort to step forward and see where that knowledge takes you.

    The website with online tests is linked under helpful resources in the collection of links in the sidebar, but I’ll also go ahead and link directly to that website right here for your convenience: https://embrace-autism.com/autism-tests/

    The ten question test is merely a subset of the fifty question test; if you’re at all distressed about the process, feel free to start at the short test. (I took both, and they both scored me extremely highly.)