Haa anyone (as an adult) been referred for an autism assessment and then been told that they do not have autism?

[Bushmillsbabe]

There have been lots of threads recently around autism diagnosis, and I have often felt 'different' and that I should explore this further. Working with children with ASD I recognise lots of features they display in myself.
But I don't know how I would cope going through the process to be told 'no you do not have ASD', as I think I would then feel even worse about the challenges I have with social interactions

So my questions are, if you went through the process and was told you didn't have ASD

• how did you feel
• did they give you an alternative explanation/diagnosis

Thank you

A friend of mine had this, she was told she had traits but didn't meet threshold for autism, but was referred on for an ADHD assessment and that was later confirmed, she has ADD without the 'hyper' part which is why she hadn't thought of it.
I had to go private for an autism assessment and picked an assessor who had a two stage screening process prior to the full assessment, she would only do a full assessment if she was pretty confident it would be a diagnosis after the screenings (she was very experienced in assessing and working with autistic women which undoubtedly helped)
I know the adult autism assessor that covers the region I work and he has said it's very rare for self referrers not to be diagnosed, because quite simply, people who aren't autistic don't 'click' with what they read, research it, and go through the rigmarole to get an assessment - those that do usually have a good idea as to why they feel it's right for them.

Any assessment would usually be followed up with a written report which is informative and can give you insight though even if they felt you didn't meet the diagnostic criteria

Good luck!

I was diagnosed, but I have referred others to the same assessor who did not get a diagnosis. I think the fear around not being diagnosed is quite a ND thing with the black and white thinking around "I'm either autistic or I'm just useless." In every case of others I referred, the team made alternative suggestions and further referred them for another assessment because there was clearly 'something,' and that something isn't always autism. One was ADHD, another was developmental language disorder, one was severe executive function disorder. For all three, but particularly the one with DLD, getting an assessment for what was actually happening was way more useful than just living with "I think I might be autistic."

I think there are quite a few people who are sub threshold for both and can still have quite a few traits. Still good to understand yourself. So many ND people have such significant mental health struggles and having that lense to tackle them can be hugely helpful. Hope it’s helpful if you do go ahead (I’m not autistic but have ADHD and didn’t know that until adulthood - it would have helped significantly in managing my MH and it does help now ADHD is better managed).

I’ve often wondered this with any private referral. You go, wanting the consultant to confirm your fears whether autistic, adhd or whatever, and then they say you haven’t got it. Where does that leave you? Do you feel cheated because you’ve paid out and they haven’t confirmed it? Where does go next? Etc