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New member, this is my intro post

Vivisect

Vivisect

New Member
I don't have a professional dx of autism.
I've suspected that I'm on the spectrum intermittently over the years and the older I get the more sure I am of it. So I finally decided to do something about it.

I'm 46, born in the USA, and have trouble holding down jobs so I don't have health insurance and I'm broke so I can't afford a psychologist. Well, of the psychologists I've found online that are qualified to assess adults for autism, none are affordable for me.
I've tried to qualify for the Affordable Healthcare Act insurance, but it's too expensive. So I've spent the last month on Google trying to find an affordable set of sessions for an autism assessment, but with no luck yet.
Currently I'm in Memphis, TN and I was hoping someone in this forum could help point me in the right direction for options.
I contacted a local autism awareness group with no luck. The only local affordable psychologists I found are for children. If I keep googling on my own I might eventually stumble across helpful information, but I'd like to save time and avoid frustration from multiple dead ends so here I am.
Your leads don't have to be local to me. Any helpful information is much appreciated. Thank you for your time.
 
Welcome:

This place is in Memphis, but it doesn't appear to offer assessments. You might still want to call them. Autism Resources of the Mid-South | Providing Support, Advocacy, and Education for All Affected by Autism

The TN Autism Society is in east TN, so it's far from you but maybe they have resources for you too: https://www.asaetc.org/services

Keep in mind, this forum absolutely welcomes all people both professionally diagnosed and self-diagnosed like you are at this point. Also, it's a personal choice to seek out a professional assessment. It's not necessary to be a member here. So you could decide you never want to seek a professional assessment and still be a valued contributing member to this forum.

I would personally request that while participating here you make sure you continue to say that you're self-diagnosed.

I've never been to Memphis, but I'm a very big fan of the music group Big Star and also the deceased musician Alex Chilton who was a member of that band. Both the band and Alex Chilton were from Memphis.
 
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Magna said:
Welcome:

This place ...
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Thank you for the resources, I'll look into those.
For the time being I'll include that I'm self-diagnosed while participating in the forum. Until I get answers.

I would feel better getting a professional dx just to be sure I'm on the spectrum since all I do is second guess myself, and also to make sure I'm getting the appropriate self-help I need. The only state of being I know is struggling with everything under the sun -especially interpersonal relationships- and being overwhelmed by all things sensory. I got into studying behavioral psychology when I was around 13 years old because I wanted to better understand myself and others. And I've always had trouble expressing myself or talking about feelings. I grew up being told that I'm lazy, selfish, and lack empathy. My family was judgy and not so understanding/loving.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm pretty well-informed from my life-long interest in psychology, but acutely aware that there's a lot I still don't know. I'm tired of feeling like an alien trying to blend in with everyone else.

I'm sort of familiar with that band Big Star, and I've heard the name Alex Chilton before. Music is another huge interest of mine! I could ramble about it for a bit, but I've learned not to do that over the years lol. So, another time :)
 
Vivisect said:
Thank you for the resources, I'll look into those.
For the time being I'll include that I'm self-diagnosed while participating in the forum. Until I get answers.

I would feel better getting a professional dx just to be sure I'm on the spectrum since all I do is second guess myself, and also to make sure I'm getting the appropriate self-help I need. The only state of being I know is struggling with everything under the sun -especially interpersonal relationships- and being overwhelmed by all things sensory. I got into studying behavioral psychology when I was around 13 years old because I wanted to better understand myself and others. And I've always had trouble expressing myself or talking about feelings. I grew up being told that I'm lazy, selfish, and lack empathy. My family was judgy and not so understanding/loving.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm pretty well-informed from my life-long interest in psychology, but acutely aware that there's a lot I still don't know. I'm tired of feeling like an alien trying to blend in with everyone else.

I'm sort of familiar with that band Big Star, and I've heard the name Alex Chilton before. Music is another huge interest of mine! I could ramble about it for a bit, but I've learned not to do that over the years lol. So, another time :)
Click to expand...

There's a thread in the music section of this forum titled: "What are you listening to right now" or something like that. You should post song links for Youtube for songs that you like to listen to. It's fun to do that.
 
Welcome.
There are a lot of forum posts of people who finally are professionally assessed for autism at this site. There are a fair number of us that just stumbled into our own self-diagnosed status due to this forum's content and online resources.

Affordable healthcare for the under employed, what a beautiful pipe dream.
 
Some colleges do assessments as part of thier program that is where I got mine done here in Virginia. Might want to check universities near you and contact thier psychology department.
 
Ronald Zeeman said:
What a great country Canada is. Weather currently good also, even right now,
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Yeah I'd love to move to a country with universal healthcare, but it would be too expensive right now. I started looking into it over 20 years ago and even went back to school to learn a highly skilled trade to improve my odds of becoming a Canadian citizen. Well, I had a dual purpose for going back to school to learn 3d modeling. Primarily to improve my odds for moving to Canada, but also it's the only job I've found so far that doesn't bore me after a month and I tend to hyperfocus on it because I enjoy it immensely.
I could move there if I could gather the finances for the initial move, but living here in America sucks you dry if you grew up in poverty so I haven't been able to make it happen yet. I'm honestly surprised I'm not homeless yet lol.
 
Welcome.

I'm curious, why is your introduction post always a the top of the trending topics list, despite few recent posts?
 
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