My Autism Assessment Journey

Hello, my name is Jan Hanson and I’m Autistic, heck that’s actually the first time I’ve written it.

Yes, I’ve written I have ASC/ASD but those are just letters. To actually write out ‘Autistic’, now that’s different. I suppose it’s me finally acknowledging who I am and being comfortable with that.

Finding out and receiving my diagnosis last November at the age of 56 means much of this is still new to me and I’m still learning a lot along the way.

By this I mean I have had habits pointed out to me that I thought everyone did – for example, talking to themselves, twiddling rings, or hair. However, this is all part of my Autism! My hyperfocus (or obsession, as my family would call it) to prove people wrong and achieve academically has seen me study continually for the last thirty years! To me, that’s completely normal.

Now, all this has a name.

I was lucky that within my studies I had to complete a general screening so already had a diagnosis of Dyslexia and Dyspraxia, so I expected my profile to be spikey regarding my working memory and processing of information. However, when I read the answers and recommendations it said “Autism Spectrum Disorder significant difficulties” whereas Dyslexia and Dyspraxia were both coming out as having moderate difficulties.

It did take me by surprise, so I decided to take control and see if the screener was correct.

Even by paying privately and contacting the National Autistic Society, any assessment centre in or around London had a 5-to-12-month waitlist to be seen. If I had waited to be referred by my GP, I would have had to wait two years (no matter which part of the country I lived in). However, I contacted an Autism Psychology Practice in Middlesbrough and started the assessment five days after I had completed the screener.

I found some of the rigorous tests frustrating and extremely tiring, which really surprised me, I suppose it shouldn’t have because I was having to concentrate so much. There were questionnaires to complete, with questions and interviews for both my mum and husband.

Questions like: What was I like as a child? Did I have friends? Things I had never thought about.

I think the most difficult test was my Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS-2), where I had to travel to Middlesbrough. Seeing as I work completely from home, going somewhere this far is quite a challenge.