I went through RTC and ended up getting my assessment very quickly.

I was hoping for an in-person assessment because I'm able to act more 'normal' over video call. In the end, though, it was 2 video calls: one yesterday and one today.

At the end of the call yesterday, the assessor basically said she thought I had ASD but would need to agree with the second assessor. The one today flat out said at the end of the call that, in her opinion, I do have ASD.

I thought you had to wait for your report to find out, but I guess I know what it will say.

I don't know how to feel, really. I was expecting them to say I didn't have it.

It was a weird experience.

One of my daughter is autistic and always worried about her not being aware of her environment. She is now 15 and was awarded DLA last year since we did not know she was entitled to it. However, all efforts to get her a mobility allowance failed so we needed up with the mid-tier offer.

I wanted to ask if one can still get a car using part of the DLA allowance as we need it to always pick her up and take her places.

I am completely confused and overwhelmed. I have gone from sort of positive to totally confused. And I have no idea whatsoever if I am or could be autistic. Not knowing has taken over my thoughts, I can’t do anything as it is all I am thinking about. I have done no work.

Background: 33f. Always been anxious. Diagnosed ptsd after got very bad 6 years ago and I couldn’t do anything/ hurt myself/ didn’t function. First time I’d spoken about mental health to drs. Anti depressants and beta blockers - still taking.

Jan 26, things better, still anxious, but have full time job and love my partner- would like a baby. Went to gp re medication and interactions. I was nervous - new person/ situation. Well gp was ‘worried about capacity’ and my notes say she thinks I am ‘severely acutely disabled’ in some scenarios. Psychiatrist for medication. Back to gp. Referred for autism assessment.

drs appointment so stressful any time, admitting I’d like a child=more stressful. Couldn’t speak so gave her my written speaking points. We have digital doctors notes so I check what she writes about me - she is worried I couldn’t go to appointments, don’t make eye contact, sit in a hunched position and fidget. She said that she questions if I could handle being pregnant or a parent, and that medical staff might raise concerns because being anxious can be interpreted as not engaging.

Is something I have considered for a long time, partner is convinced I am. Head of my work team assumed I am (asked her if she assumed and why she always knew what would make me overwhelmed when I didn’t myself, she said yes, assumed I am autistic, is aware what would stress her autistic family and noticed stresses me so then applies to future also).

I have no idea if I am autistic. I am freaking out. What if I have made myself appear autistic to them by accident and I’m not? I have no clue if I was just being genuine self at appointments or not. I cannot stop thinking about it. I am getting no work done. I don’t want to be assessed if I’m not. I don’t know if I want to be assessed if I am. But I do need to know.

I know anxiety does not equal autism and more than that. That is why I am freaking out. As I have no idea if other bits align.
- yes, some issues with noise and being touched by others, but not disabling
- yes, strong hobbies (anything crafty, pottery, bread, dogs)
- no friends, but partner with adhd
- bad at having conversations, would never think to text someone
- obsess over thoughts but also ideas and people
- often avoid eye contact, told sometimes too much though, can do it if need to be normal
- have a job, stayed same place
- convinced others don’t like me, issues with previous manager
- routine (get up, dog walk, coffee, work or hobby, dinner, dog walk, lounge, bed)
- don’t like change (of managers, of people, of where I have to sit, of what to do)
- I don’t stand out, not sure if would always come across as different e.g. I can say hello to people with my dog
- I can do things if I really want to (transport, crowds)
- am I just anti social and rigid
- I fidget and pick, but I can stop
- I can talk to people if needed
- eat most food, just prefer the same
- can be sarcastic
- don’t make jokes/ often get don’t understand

We're almost certain my teenager has this. Any tips?!

They love debate but will often provoke for a reaction, possibly to feel something. They often say they just feel nothing. They have racist, sexist & anti immigrant views except they're not, and get along really well with all kinds of people. We don't know if this is also for reaction and partly the GB News special interest! They like being outdoors walking and listening to music but other than that not much. There's potentially the beginnings of burnout too and we're going into GCSE years in September.

What helped to just feel something? And to maybe understand emotions better? We've been working on this throughout school. I don't think sky diving will be an option.

Update: They're also depressed and suicidal. This could explain the feeling nothing. We've had 2 Prevent referrals and almost immediately discharged because they're not searching for it etc. The only thing indoctrinating is mainstream media. They have huge empathy at times but do not display as its difficult to process and recognise. They do not recognise emotions in themselves or others. Unfortunately a bit complex.

Hey everyone,

I have made a post here before about struggling with work, when I made that post I had a job and was trying my best with it even though I was uncomfortable with the workspace. This week my family has been away on holiday and I have been left to look after a family members animals and stay at their house and I have been left really stressed out about it because of having to manage being a lot further away from work. I had to go into work on Tuesday but I had been awake the entire night before because of stress so I ended up calling out on my shift.

Today before work I saw messages on the group chat talking about me, I guess nobody knew I was in the chat and they were asking if I had called out today as-well and saying that my manager should ‘get rid’ of me because she thinks i’ll be absent all the time.

I don’t know what to do, I have little support at home and have been going through a constant cycle of burnout and depression working retail I know I need a councillor and a lot more support and I have started to access it but I just feel so lost.

Hi - I’m a uni student exploring a potential project around making London public transport easier for neurodivergent people (ADHD, autism, anxiety, sensory issues, etc).
This is not commercial and I’m not selling or promoting anything - I’m just trying to understand real experiences properly before making assumptions about problems that may or may not exist.
Some things I’m curious about:
navigating busy stations/interchanges
sudden platform changes/disruptions
sensory overload/noise/crowds
uncertainty during journeys
route planning stress
fear of getting on the wrong train/bus
situations where existing apps like Citymapper/Google Maps still aren’t enough
If any of this resonates with you, I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences - even just a few DMs/messages back and forth would help a lot.
And if anyone would potentially be open to a short informal Zoom/chat at some point, that would be amazing too.
I’m mainly just trying to learn from people who actually deal with this day to day.

Hi everyone,

I’m autistic and today I ended up randomly crying over something that, on paper, probably sounds small, but emotionally absolutely floored me.

I was watching backstage promo/comments videos from a wrestling event and started daydreaming that I was there cutting one of those promos myself. While imagining it, I started talking (out loud) about how I’ve been a fan of professional wrestling for over 20 years now and suddenly I just… broke emotionally.

Not in a panic attack way or anything harmful, but more like:
nostalgia,
reflection,
sadness,
gratitude,
loneliness,
“where has the time gone?” feelings,
all hitting at once.

What’s confusing me is that nothing specifically “bad” triggered it. It felt like emotions I’d unintentionally been suppressing or carrying around suddenly came out all at once.

A friend of mine (also neurodivergent) said autistic people can sometimes experience delayed emotional processing and intense emotional reflection/nostalgia, especially tied to special interests or meaningful memories.

Does anyone else experience this?
Like:
getting emotional over hobbies/special interests,
suddenly reflecting on years of your life,
random crying spells connected to memories,
emotional overwhelm from nostalgia,
or emotions hitting you hours/days/years later?

Would genuinely appreciate hearing other people’s experiences because today has felt very emotionally strange and I’m trying to understand it better.

The nice thing is, despite the crying, it didn’t feel “bad” exactly. More… overwhelmingly human, if that makes sense?

I went to the GP today to ask for a referral for an autism diagnostic assessment and have been sent some provider options. I’m looking to hear from others about their experiences to help inform my decision such as what the process was like, whether you felt rushed/listened to and general positives and negatives. Obviously I will not take any one review as gospel but I need to choose and don’t know where to start…

List of providers (in order of wait time):
- Health Harmonie Minds
- Insight Diagnostics
- Atrom Mindcare
- Dr J and Colleagues
- Sinclair Strong
- Harley Street Mental Health
- KT Healthcare
- The Aspen Clinic
- Psychiatry UK
- Skylight Psychiatry
- The Owl Centre Limited
- RTN Mental Health
- Psicon
- Problem Shared
- Oakdale Group
- Clinical Partners
- The Retreat Clinic

Thank you :)

Looking for advice from parents with experience of autism/ADHD/PDA-type profiles in primary-aged children.
My child is currently under CAMHS referral and we’re also having a meeting with school to discuss his presentation and support needs.
The main difficulty is extreme impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, especially in social situations. He can act very quickly without apparent inhibition, struggle with accepting boundaries, and sometimes says or does things that upset other children during play (e.g. unkind comments, disruptive or controlling behaviour in group play).
I’m also noticing a pattern where peers are starting to avoid him socially, and school are beginning to document concerns about peer relationships.
At home, boundaries can trigger very intense reactions very quickly, and once escalated he struggles to calm down or reflect on what’s happened.
We are waiting for CAMHS input, but I feel quite overwhelmed in the meantime and unsure what strategies actually help with this level of impulsivity and social difficulty.
Has anyone had similar experiences, particularly with children who struggle with both regulation and peer relationships, and found anything that made a difference long term (school strategies, parenting approaches, or interventions)?
hes not a bully, but the impact is the same on the children, he does not get invited to parties, kids flinch when close to him, he points and laughs at children in distress.
sadly, where all his behaviours are so impulsive, nothing sticks no amount of parenting.

this is the description I use on the website

As a town councillor, for Downham Market my hopes are to represent the younger people in our community. I also aim to demonstrate that having autism does not limit one's ability to contribute to public service. I was told at a young age that I would never speak publicly. By becoming a councillor, I have already proven that prediction wrong. I look forward to learning more about our town and serving its residents.

I only became a councillor at 19.

Steven David Campbell Robb

please also comment your own experiences of getting in touch with elected officials with autism

I hate being autistic. I know to some people it's like the best thing in the world but those are usually the people that have some kind of autistic superpower like they're amazing at math or they have unbelievable music ability or some other kind of amazing genius. But when you're just run-of-the-mill normal average everyday autistic person like me it's fucking sucks. There is nothing special about being autistic other than your superpower being able to alienate people with the greatest of ease. Are the other amazing superpower you were given with your autism where you can appear close enough to normal that when the glitches in The matrix make their appearance people blame you for them like you should have known no matter how many times you try to explain your social ignorance in blindness to people you still get blamed like you're the bad guy. Oh yeah autism is the fucking best.

It even makes it better when you have a family that leaves you over it. That would rather judge you and not have anything to do with you or support you because of your differences. Yeah autism is fucking great.

The best part is where you get to live in a world where you're basically a ghost with a pulse where you're always on the sidelines looking in at the party never get to participate.

Autism sucks. In the worst part is I get sad over the fact that I can't have relationships then I watch movies where people get to enjoy each other and make new friends and become close and share a bond and no one wants from me and I've tried in my socially awkward autistic way to have that with people. But no matter what I do relationships and people don't last in my life. I always thought about writing a biography called you have 5 minutes because after that you won't want any more of my time. And that's been the constant truth throughout my entire autistic life. It's hello followed by a goodbye and never call me again and sometimes even threats of being arrested if I do contact them again. Yeah being autistic is great.

You get to be close enough to normal to want the things that normal people have but far enough away from normal never to have them so you get to live in empty sad pathetic invisible life. But autism is great isn't it. we're so special that we're autistic right?

Autism fucking sucks

So i gotten my test back and i have autism, out of the 7 things they look for i have 6 of those things.

Sorry im not the best with english/ how to say things so if i say anything wrong im sorry.

I work 6 days a week but its very draining and its staring to make my head feel off, im able to talk if it on things i enjoyed or telling a customer where a item is but it will take a couple of mintues for me to say where that item is due to getting my words mixed up.

I cant do small talk and if i have earphones in i do my work alot better, if they are dead its alot harder for me to focus and it messes with my head.

Sorry about going on and on. I do want to move out of my parents place and pip will help out massivly with finding a place.

I did the test thing on their website and got 14. I cant start a convo/ jump into one.

Cant apply online which is annoying i have to call them. Can i apply through email. Calling people is worst for me i dont like calling/ find it hard on what to say.

Sorry for the long post my mum said i should apply for pip and i want too but i dont know how to go about it without calling

Any advice please

(I am under 18, this is kinda relevant)

Um so basically a couple of years ago I started to really struggle with school, and now I've been given what feels like a big choice to make.

So basically I have an EHCP and right now I'm in a mainstream school (although I haven't been into school in a while). Right now my parents are trying to find a special school for me to go to, preferably one that specialises in autism and is small. But it's really frustrating as nearly every school if full and then other ones say they can't meet my needs (which is so weird to me because nobody ever noticed I was autistic for years, but there's some special schools that can't help me because I need too much support).

As I would only have a year at secondary school anyway (I really want to go down a year/repeat a year as I have only been in one subjects lessons at school this year, and missed lots of the year before that as well), my parents have said that soon they will stop searching and looking for alternative stuff (there's this thing called EOTAS that gives funding for like farm schools and stuff like that).

Right now I do online school (3 lessons), but it hurts my head, and I get distracted and I like to be able to talk to people in my class as I get very lonely at home, and that's another option.

I just don't really know what to do, I really want to be in a special school, but I'm also worried about having to meet loads of new people and a new building, and it might be far away.

It just feels like a big desicion to make whether to do online school, the EOTAS or carry on looking at special schools (but that will stop in like a month which I'm sad as I want to go).

Don't really know why I did this, hope it makes sense, don't know if you can edit stuff afterwards if I realise I need to add stuff in

I think this is asking for advice on what to do

(I have also posted this on one of the other Autism subreddit things, but thought it might also help going here for advice and stuff)

(Just to clarify: this is an unpaid university project for a short HCI/design module - not a startup/commercial product.)

We’re doing a university project on sensory accessibility in navigation/public transport.

For autistic or sensory-sensitive people:
are there certain stations, routes, or environments you intentionally avoid?

If so, what makes them difficult?

• noise
• crowds
• unpredictability
• announcements
• layouts
• crossing roads
• etc

Interested in real experiences + things navigation apps currently miss.

- Herbal Tea

- Some Older TV Sitcoms and Movies

- Actually learning stuff in school

- Documentaries

I've been to see my GP today and asked to be referred for an autism assessment for Right to Choose. Apparently the GP will contact me with options...

1. I'm AFAB (trans man) and mask fairly well.

2. I have a historical diagnosis of bipolar disorder, but no hypomania for a decade. I'm considered to be in remission.

I had an assessment 11 years ago and was told I was basically on the borderline of diagnosis, but if they diagnosed me I'd be seen as too complex for CMHT given a dual diagnosis. They also mentioned I have a good relationship with my mother. I never received a report, just a diagnosis letter saying not autistic.

My life is more stable now. I used to isolate myself a lot and drink heavily. I now live with a partner who has also noticed a lot of autism traits and has encouraged me to go for a second opinion. I'm also struggling with masking and sensory stuff in work and feel that maybe if I can understand what's going on then I can advocate for myself better.

I was wondering if people could share some experiences and recommendations with Right to Choose options... Especially people on the SMI register and/or who are AFAB.

Thank you.

I (25F) have been looking for a full time job since July 2025 after being terminated due to problems with my autism and adhd (that my managers knew about). I will give details about my current search:

Yes I have been formally diagnosed with autism (last week yay) and adhd (2022). I live in the UK, I have no degree (due to struggling with being undiagnosed at the time and not receiving the support i desperately needed, so I dropped out). I have had a string of customer service and hospitality roles, and I currently work zero hours at a hospitality role which is no longer working out for me. There have been business and management changes over the last 6 months that have been affecting staff such as myself that have been working there for years, and they are trying to push us out.

For me, it's my only source of income, and for many that are not salaried there, it's their second job or their university job. I need something that I can preferably work from home (hybrid is fine), regularly scheduled hours, and based in London. I use Linkedin and filter it against the silly ai algorithm that they've put in place, I use CharityJob to find something more morally correct, and I use Indeed when I have finished looking on both those sites. I also look at the civil service website since they are known to hire people with no degree. I go onto company websites everyday to see what has been posted that line up with my skill set and I see myself developing in, and I also apply for jobs that are above what I can do professionally but know that I am capable of learning quickly.

I have my cv, with various tailored versions to either include or not include my education (in case I apply for apprenticeships), and I have my own written cover letter template to alter and save when applying, so I can convince them I am capable of the role.

I know the whole reason that it's so hard to land an entry level/mid experience level role right now is due to demand, jobs posting fake listings so people can sign up to their newsletter for 'future roles', and companies using ai to replace people and cut corners for profit margin. Also, I know I'm not the brightest of the bunch and I make life at work a little difficult because of my needs, but I would like to have stable income even with the barriers that companies have put in place to prevent neurodivergent people from getting employment.

Things are getting expensive and I would like to live a life where money isn't a restriction of my happiness so I'm just looking for advice from anyone who has successfully overcome the current job market, and what it took to get that job. I don't know what else to do, who to contact for help or advice either.

Also, please be kind. I have been struggling with my audhd since 2025 and I lose motivation with applications and online assessments and final interviews everyday, just to get rejected after it all. I am tired and stressed out and at my wits end. I just need money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello. I have contacted GP for an assessment and they have sent me a form whereby I have to state which provider I am using.
Looking for advice on who to use and the process, please.
Do I contact the provider first, or is this not necessary and I just put their details on the GP’s form?
I have an ADHD diagnosis (so I am familiar with the Right To Choose pathway), so a provider that understands the interaction of autism and ADHD would be preferable, if that exists.
Many thanks.

I lost my dad sudden and without warning two weeks ago. I have been trying so hard but today I am really struggling. I spoke to the council today and I am waiting to hear back about if I'm going to be able to stay here. I spoke to citizens advise and shelter and both said until I have heard back from the council they cant do anything. They also mentioned to inform universal credit about the changes that have happened but I couldn't get through to them.

I'm struggling to do all thats required of me. I miss my dad and part of me is just refusing to accept he's gone it hurts so bad. Almost like I'm delusional.

I am anxious about whats going to happen in the future. Im anxious that I cant accept that hes gone. Im anxious that my sister is under so much pressure and I'm such a burden. I just want to crawl into a ball and sob like a child wanting their father but what good will that do.

I'm struggling to cope. I dont know what else I can do.

I had an ADHD assessment Sunday and diagnosed combined type with mention of heavy autism overlap… then had autism assessment on Sunday too and he said we needed another session as I was overwhelmed and stimming significantly throughout. He knew I’d jsut been diagnosed with adhd and access to the notes.

I’ve jsut got the next one booked in from him but it’s only for 25 minutes. I don’t even know what that means. 25 minutes I felt we had much more areas to go over and worried now that he’s missing loads of info. Perhaps he’s gone over the adhd assessment notes and my self reports again and ultimately has a decision I don’t know, but if it’s a non diagnosis I’d have appreciated more time to go over my struggles with him 😢