http://humans.org.nz/2008/11/25/officially-avoiding-the-issue/ A website to advocate, provide a voice, stimulate policy debate and provide essential information to people on the autistic spectrum and their friends and families. Wed, 16 May 2012 09:56:36 +1200 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 http://humans.org.nz/2008/11/25/officially-avoiding-the-issue/comment-page-1/#comment-387 Sarah Abrahamson Thu, 08 Jan 2009 09:15:14 +0000 http://humans.org.nz/2008/11/25/officially-avoiding-the-issue/#comment-387 Hi all: I just read about this tragic situation: probably not all that uncommon, but hopefully not often with this outcome.. Having worked with psychiatric services and psychologists I am very concerned that not only is the diagnosis of AS not considered, but it is quite conceivable that anyone who suggests their own diagnosis will then be considered to be one of the dreaded patients who considers themselves better than others (echoes of Janet Frame...) Doctors in NZ and Aust, even psychiatrists, are not trained well in detecting adult developmental disability, and would do well to listen to people with AS who at least do know a lot about these issues. I'm currently working on a PhD looking partly at undetected AS. The hardest part will be to find a group who can be screened without significant offense to their existing clinicians (I'm considering prisoners at the moment: at least this group is acknowledged to have some issues, but may have more ADHD than AS, I suspect!) Also there is now a new instrument for Asperger's diagnosis, the RAADS, which I'm helping to test in my PhD, and is MUCH better than the AQ. It was published in the JADD last year, or I can send anyone a copy by email (sjabrahamson@yahoo.com) It has a 100% discriminating ability, and I've found it really helpful so far. Hi all:
I just read about this tragic situation: probably not all that uncommon, but hopefully not often with this outcome..
Having worked with psychiatric services and psychologists I am very concerned that not only is the diagnosis of AS not considered, but it is quite conceivable that anyone who suggests their own diagnosis will then be considered to be one of the dreaded patients who considers themselves better than others (echoes of Janet Frame…) Doctors in NZ and Aust, even psychiatrists, are not trained well in detecting adult developmental disability, and would do well to listen to people with AS who at least do know a lot about these issues. I’m currently working on a PhD looking partly at undetected AS. The hardest part will be to find a group who can be screened without significant offense to their existing clinicians (I’m considering prisoners at the moment: at least this group is acknowledged to have some issues, but may have more ADHD than AS, I suspect!)
Also there is now a new instrument for Asperger’s diagnosis, the RAADS, which I’m helping to test in my PhD, and is MUCH better than the AQ. It was published in the JADD last year, or I can send anyone a copy by email (sjabrahamson@yahoo.com) It has a 100% discriminating ability, and I’ve found it really helpful so far.

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