I ask this because of the cost. I am willing to pay for an assessment in the lower end of the high cost range which assessments typical have. However, I want to know what it would do for me, if I already have enough evidence showing I’m autistic? I want a therapist who can help me with struggles relevant to being autistic. But I don’t know what an assessment would actually give me? I can see it potentially giving me access to a good therapist who specialises in autism. But can I do that without an assessment?
For those of you who are diagnosed, what has it done for you? Did it make any meaningful difference in your situation?
This. I’ve always known, but never got diagnosed. After struggling through life, I thought I could get help. So I was tested and got a plethora of things I wasn’t expecting. Now I’m being treated for other things and the ASD diagnosis only confirms what I had always known about why things are different (i.e. I didn’t always know I had ASD, but I’ve always known that things are different). But my life is undoubtedly better now and had I grown up in a healthy environment, I may have known all these things much earlier and may not have needed to struggle for so long.