Rdos.net results

[Piggytaillane]

Hi,

I took the rdos.net quiz as I have been wondering if I am on the spectrum or not.

How do you interpret it. If it’s half and half? Does this mean I am likely to be neurotypical?

Thanks

It only looks half-and-half because of two big scores - communication and relationship; all the others are significantly weighted towards ND.

In terms of understanding the result...those are two of the main categories where heavy masking is likely to occur. If you've got to your 30s or beyond without any diagnosis, then that's absolutely what I'd expect to see - I run a fairly decent-sized forum which turned out to be self-selecting for a much higher proportion of autistic folk than in the main population, and a lot of us took that test. Lots of us who were later diagnosed autistic had graphs that looked similar to that.

Of course, that's not to say that you definitely are ND, just that it's a possibility that shouldn't be discounted because of a couple of big scores on the left.

My advice with this test is...wait a week, and take it again. Then wait another week, and take it again. The reason is that...your results might look like that on a good day, but on a bad day they'll be very different. This is especially true if you take it towards the end of the Christmas period, when (if you're ND) you'll likely be fairly burned out from forced social interaction.

Thanks so much for your helpful reply. It’s much appreciated. I will try it again a couple of times like you said to do.

I am 42 years old and don’t want to waste GP’s time if it’s not the case.

Honestly, talking to your GP about it will waste your time more than anything - adult diagnoses are absolutely at the bottom of their priorities, much less actually providing support of any kind.

Far better would be to talk to people who are ND, and see what you have in common. Do some (honest) research on those traits, watch some videos by ND creators, and see where it takes you.

If you still have a strong feeling that you're ND after all of that, you have two options:

#1: Self-identify as ND (whether that's ADHD, autism or something else). Almost nobody will question it, particularly in a professional setting (unless you work in the public sector), and you'll have a decent chance of getting the accommodations you need to be more comfortable. It's totally valid, and most ND people will just welcome you into the tribe and help you with your journey.

#2: Formal diagnosis. For this, you're going to have to go private, unless you want a several-year wait for it.

The advantage of #1 is that it's cheap, but the disadvantage (in my experience) is that if you want to talk about it to anybody, there's at least a 30% chance of getting the, "Oh, you're not diagnosed? So you're not really autistic, then?" response, which is utterly maddening.

#2 solves that problem, but it's expensive - a private assessment usually comes with a £1500+ price tag. Mine was significantly less than that; if you get to that stage and want an assessment but can't stomach the prices...PM me and I'll give you the details.

If I'm honest...being able to talk to people about my particular flavour of autism without them being asshats about it is at least 50% of the reason I paid for an assessment. My other reasons were that while I don't need any support right now, that may not always be the case - and future employers may require formal proof of the condition. I'm also somewhat concerned about care in old age - there's a hell of a gap when it comes to social care for elderly autistic folk. In fact, my wife trains carers, and the modules she's forced to teach on autism are about 20 years behind current knowledge and completely wrong on just about everything.

Your GP is going to be used to people wasting his/her time, and you approaching with a request for a referral for an autism assessment, in the grand scheme of the shite that your GP has to listen to, is NOT a waste of time.

IMHO, it's better to have an assessment and a diagnosis than live life 'not fully knowing'. However, I am firmly in the camp that 'self identity' of anything is just a person's own thought and is meaningless when accommodations/reasonable adjustments/recognition of ones differences are needed.

My diagnosis was the most validating event of my life. Self acceptance post diagnosis had a positive impact on me.

See...my experience has been somewhat different. Figuring it out myself by joining an autistic community is the part that was the most validating part of my life - finding my tribe, as it were, because for the first time in my life I wasn't the only one. That was by far the most life-changing moment I've had with it.

The diagnosis has been (and likely will be) mostly irrelevant and has had zero effect on my life - my employers (at the time and since) just took my word for it and offered to adjust as necessary, and talking to official folk was exactly the same. My support needs are minimal (at the moment), so...it's just a piece of paper.

In addition to that, given that every time I tried to talk about it with my GP (actually, many GPs), I was completely dismissed and told it was all in my head...the idea that health professionals know more than me about me doesn't hold water. The only one who actually took it vaguely-seriously told me they wouldn't give me a referral because "even if you are autistic, it's pointless because we don't provide any support for adults anyway".

That's why I suggested research, joining a community to see if it fits and then skipping the GP to go straight to an actual professional who's experienced in assessing neurodiversity.

You have your experience, I have mine. The OP, I presume, didn't just want one opinion, hence my post.

@Piggytaillane

I do get support post diagnosis. My diagnosis is not just a piece of paper. My diagnosis is relevant.

You do what's best for you @Piggytaillane. I wish you all the best with whatever you decide.

Thanks again, you have both given me lots of helpful information to consider.

I wouldn’t be able to pay privately unfortunately. I think that’s why I wanted to make sure there was a good chance that I am ND before doing anything about it. I seem to fit into some of the traits but not others.

If anyone has any suggestions for forums/communities/websites for me to explore I would be really grateful.

Apologies, wasn't suggesting you were absolutely wrong. Just giving some more context for my suggestion, that's all :)

Hello,

My Rdos profile looks a lot like yours and I have a private diagnosis. I do not mask. You will hear that talked about a lot with women but not everyone does it. WHat you see is what you get with me! I was told at my assessment that communication wise my traits are very subtle, and to the untrained eye would be missed but the are there. Basically I am quite NT in my communications. I would say I am crap at starting small talk say but if there's a topic to discuss I am fine ie at my kids parents eve I have no problem chatting about her. I was told my profile is quite rare, and not typical. Maybe you are like me? I will try to post my graph for you if I can dig it out x

this is mine

Though I can see from your score that your NT and ND results are more evenly matched overall than mine. Discussing this with a professional would help you figure that out, easier said than done I know.

For what it's worth, this one's mine (recently diagnosed):

Interestingly, this is my daughter's (she's NT, and not biologically related to me):

I guess that's what happens when you're raised by ND :)

Oops, that went all wrong. The first one's me, the second one's my daughter.