Fucking fuck useless fucking... fuck.
Feb. 1st, 2010 02:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsidheI got a phone number from the GP.
I called the number. It turns out that this doctor is an adolescent specialist. She accepts adults... under 30.
I was put on to the intake officer, who said that there isn't anyone at that clinic who can help me, and offered two other private clinics. For me to cold-call.
Which is not so much of an improvement over the long list of psychs, each with “children only” or “school visits only” or “female patients only”.
And now, after that, my pulse is racing. Fuck. I didn't need that.
But the message is clear, anyway: if you are male and have survived to this age with Asperger's, then you can damn well fuck off and continue to do so with no help from us. We're gonna make you jump through hoops of fucking fire before we tell you you're twenty years too late to be helped.
Well that's just fucking lovely.
I called the number. It turns out that this doctor is an adolescent specialist. She accepts adults... under 30.
I was put on to the intake officer, who said that there isn't anyone at that clinic who can help me, and offered two other private clinics. For me to cold-call.
Which is not so much of an improvement over the long list of psychs, each with “children only” or “school visits only” or “female patients only”.
And now, after that, my pulse is racing. Fuck. I didn't need that.
But the message is clear, anyway: if you are male and have survived to this age with Asperger's, then you can damn well fuck off and continue to do so with no help from us. We're gonna make you jump through hoops of fucking fire before we tell you you're twenty years too late to be helped.
Well that's just fucking lovely.
Well that sucks.
Date: 2010-02-01 04:15 am (UTC)I like that the ASD clinic in Glen Iris has email forms for people who are shy of using the phone.
Their site offers an unusually handy amount of information about diagnostic procedures and it states that they see people of all ages. It also has a schedule of fees and clues about possible medicare rebates.
Re: Well that sucks.
Date: 2010-02-01 04:23 am (UTC)I don't have that sort of money to spare.
Guess that's another nail in the coffin of getting answers: they're too damn expensive.
Re: Well that sucks.
Date: 2010-02-01 05:21 am (UTC)Other psychologists/psychiatrists who do adult psych assessments with an eye to ASDs are:
Sharyn Groch : 98823244 : Camberwell
Janine Manjiviona : 98916835 : Nth Fitzroy
Michelle Whitehouse: 98854529 : Glen Iris
The site suggests that if you get a Mental Health Care Plan from your GP you can access rebates. Asperger's is not covered, but Anxiety and Depression are, so if seeking a diagnosis of an underlying disorder is part of a plan to address anxiety or depression, you could claim some rebates.
I'm genuinely interested to know; As it really is dreadfully expensive, what do you see your alternatives as being?
Re: Well that sucks.
Date: 2010-02-01 05:29 am (UTC)I don't know.
Probably not.
I never got as far as finding out.
Dealing. Reading. As I said in my last post, the book Look Me In The Eye is highly informative, not least in how I differ from the author as much as how we are similar.
I don't know, really. What I wanted was certainty as much as anything. I suppose I will have to make do with ‘really strong suspicions’ until Uncle George comes through with 1st division. At which point we also buy a house with a back yard and a shed, and decent computers, and a laptop, and then everything will be perfect, right?
I suppose I had better concentrate on the Depression I find myself in. The rest can wait.