Hello everyone. Growing up I was in a special education class pretty much all through school (4th grade on). I had learning disabilities and social difficulties (still do). I was never actually diagnosed with anything. I just accepted it for what it was and never looked into it untill recently. I went over my symptoms then looked into autism and noticed quite a few similarities. I took a few of the tests online and my results said I was on the spectrum and that I have at least half the symptoms on the test and to consult a physician.
I’m 31 now and I’m not sure how getting a professional diagnosis will help me at this stage in life other than closure I guess.
What are your thoughts?
Edit: Thank you everyone for your responses I really appreciate it! I will look into getting a professional diagnosis.
If you can afford it, do it. It will help you when you need to get accommodations at work.
And if you were in a special education class, you had a diagnosis. It’s likely your diagnostician was arranged by the school (they tend to work for social services, and they have access to schools because a lot of needs for their services are first identified when kids go to school and interact with others for the first time), and a diagnosis was a part of getting you into special education.
I’ll openly admit that the last time I did it, it was mostly to update diagnoses (I was late-diagnosed, but that was still in the 20th Century) and ensure that my therapist actually knew all my diagnoses. Because she didn’t. Hell, my shrink never ran the full workup because they were able to get the info relevant to treatment from my GP.