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SteelMaiden
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03 Feb 2013, 1:36 pm

I'm going to be having day surgery this month, and I would like to write a letter to the nurse in charge about my Asperger's, as my Asperger's has been classed as severe, and it does impact me hugely with day to day life. I will be mentioning things like "warn me before you touch me", "don't expect me to make eye contact", "don't use figures of speech", "don't be confused by my total lack of expression and body language", "I am severely susceptible to sensory overload" etc.

What else should I include?


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whirlingmind
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03 Feb 2013, 1:47 pm

to give you a schedule of what exactly will be happening?
let them know if you are affected by loud noises of equipment?
if your body is very sensitive to anaesthetics/medications?


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InThisTogether
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03 Feb 2013, 1:52 pm

One thing that my son's teachers have found helpful is a table that goes like this:

One column header is "You might notice..." and the second column header is "What you can do to help"

Yours could look like:

You might notice...that I do not make eye contact
What you can do to help...Understand that this does not necessarily mean I am not listening to you and do not take it personally. If you are concerned whether or not I have heard what you said, ask me to repeat it back to you.

You might notice...that I startle easily when touched unexpectedly.
What you can do to help...Let me know that you are going to touch me before you do it and explain if there is anything you need me to do.

You might notice...that I misunderstand some of the things you say
What you can do to help...avoid using jargon and figures of speech. I have a tendency to take things very literally and I have a hard time understanding abstract speech.

Etc.

Organizing it this way has seemed to be more helpful than just listing a bunch of do's and don'ts.

Good luck to you.


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SteelMaiden
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03 Feb 2013, 2:35 pm

Thanks.


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animalcrackers
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03 Feb 2013, 3:14 pm

SteelMaiden wrote:
What else should I include?


Depends on you as an individual. Things that come to mind are:

SteelMaiden wrote:
don't be confused by my total lack of expression and body language


If, in addition to your lack of expression and body language, you don't usually just volunteer information about how you feel, it might be good to say so. That way they can ask you direct questions and make sure you're okay instead of just assuming that you would tell them if you weren't.


If you have trouble locating pain (e.g. a person might know that some part of their leg hurts, but not be able to tell exactly which part of the leg), have a very high/low pain threshold, or have any difficulty with describing or rating pain, these might be good things to tell them about--that way, the medical staff could try to adjust how they assess any pain symptoms to get a more accurate understanding than they could otherwise.


That's all I can think of. I hope it all goes well (the letter and the day surgery)!


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03 Feb 2013, 3:56 pm

Sweet Pea hugsImage

I'm rooting for you. Good luck!


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SteelMaiden
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04 Feb 2013, 1:58 pm

Thanks everyone for the support and ideas. I will incorporate the ideas into my letter.


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Chloe33
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06 Feb 2013, 11:01 am

SteelMaiden wrote:
I'm going to be having day surgery this month, and I would like to write a letter to the nurse in charge about my Asperger's, as my Asperger's has been classed as severe, and it does impact me hugely with day to day life. I will be mentioning things like "warn me before you touch me", "don't expect me to make eye contact", "don't use figures of speech", "don't be confused by my total lack of expression and body language", "I am severely susceptible to sensory overload" etc.

What else should I include?


This is so important to do, or if you have someone there or you can explain it to the nurses and staff. Otherwise they will grab at you left and right and they kind of manhandle people. They act like everyone is NT and can take it, so it's good that nurses and staff get educated about Spectrum individuals so they can adjust their methods accordingly.