Wondering if anyone can help me with this... I'm a 66-year-old female and believe that my lifetime of difficulties are related to undiagnosed autism. Briefly, I tested as gifted in the second grade ~1964, was awarded a merit-based scholarship to attend graduate school at Harvard in 1986, was diagnosed with ADHD in 1992, and then was put on disability by my (rural) doctors in 2006. They weren't entirely sure what was wrong and attributed my difficulties primarily to PTSD. I believe I may not have been diagnosed with autism/Asperger's because of my intellectual and well-perfected masking abilities, etc. I have been in shutdown mode since around 2004. I can't seem to get out of that state, but am still mentally and physically competent, and have goals I'd like to achieve. At this point, though, I need some professional support around whatever is causing me to stay shut down. I have researched this a lot, and the only other thing I think it could be related to is being hypersensitive in every possible way. Still, I think that is probably related to autism, and/or perhaps the ADHD. How can I find an appropriate professional to determine whether I have autism, at my senior age? It would need to be somebody experienced with autism in adults. I'm not sure whether this might need to be a neurology or a psychiatry department at a research hospital. Most places seem to specialize with children, of course, and sometimes young adults, but not usually seniors. Medicare is my insurance now, as I am financially limited, so that might rule out private practitioners. I live in Vermont. If you can recommend any place in the New England area, that would be immensely helpful (MA, RI, CT, ME, NH, VT, or NY). Thank you! P.S. I'm attending a webinar on Monday night regarding defense issues.

Posted by dlc2016 at 2024-03-25 05:46:59 UTC