Aspies in Scotland?

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I'm not scottish but I've been living in Edinburgh for a few years now.

I've not come across any aspies in person yet, so just curious to know how many people from Scotland are on this forum.
Ideally there'll be a bunch of fab people on here and we'll all meet up in person and become bestest friends... but I think the possibilities of that happening are remote

On a more realistic note, I suppose it would be nice to meet folk from behind the safety of a laptop screen.. at least initially!

So... umm... hello!

Hello MissWiggy,
I live outside Aberdeen and very rarely leave so we are unlikely to meet unless you are ever up this way. There are a few Scots or residents here.

My favourite street is Cockburn Street by the way.

Hello CosmicRuss! I've only been to Aberdeen once, but who knows, I might be back at some point.

I always thought Cockburn was a witty name for a street, until someone pointed out it's pronounced very differently

I'll make the effort to meet with you when the tram line is officially opened.

hahaha when? more like if

I'm in Edinburgh. We have the autism resource centre Number 6 which does a lot of activity groups and a drop-in, and we also have an Asperger's society here. You are in a city where, if you do get past the initial barrier of going from meeting online to meeting in person, there is a ready opportunity to meet with other Aspies on a frequent basis.

Hello Keeno! Thanks for the info. I had no idea there were quite a few organisations geared towards such stuff.
As you point out, meeting a group in person is always scary!

Just bumping in case anyone hasn't seen this yet

I'm in Scotland.

(man, I'm really narrowing down my location here ... I might end up losing my anonymity if I'm not careful...! )

Im fae Scotland...in particular the Central Belt.

The folks who "know" you are English need challenging because might think they know it for someone who isn't English. All bland voices without any strong accent get taken as English by accent racists, but lots of folks from Edinburgh have bland voices.

Hi all I'm from Scotland and new to this forum but reading it makes me feel I've reached the mother planet! Just trying to get a formal diagnosis at the moment. Gp's going to try her best to get me seen at Psychology. Knew I was weird since very very young now I'm quirky. The last time a tried the AQ test I scored 42. Go me!

Scotland may be our mother planet. The success we have had in developing the facility of direct influence for ourselves that is ANS: www.autismnetworkscotland.org.uk/ Check it out.

And everyone reading this in other countries, copy ANS. It's a mission to get you all it.

Welcome, Morwenna.

@Tern. I'm really dubious about services for people in Scotland, for reasons you are at least partly aware of.

I had an email from one of the people at the OSS in Dunfermline, asking me if I want to attend an event next week with a gang from the Scottish Government to talk about how the OSS is helping me.

As you know, it isn't, and I'm trying to decide whether or not I should be offended, and whether or not I should send them a stroppy note back explaining the failings of the system. They have my name on their system, and this presumably has funding implications, but I am getting nothing out of this, the backstabbing b***ards.

I'm feeling completely failed by this system and feeling like NT society hates me and wants me gone.*

The one group who did talk to me promised me minutes etc after a meeting I was at nearly two months ago (you know which one, Tern): I have heard nothing since. I thought I was on their mailing list.

This is not a model to copy. It needs a lot of work.

Hi Niall

Thankyou for saying hello.

Just had a doh! moment. I did not realise there was another post. I am totally new to all of this but its the same across the board for many health conditions- no resources, no support. I have a daughter with ME/CFS and the services(!) are appalling and so I am in no way surprised that there are grave failings in this area.

I just want a formal diagnosis and maybe a bit of support. I know i have something but I have survived so far (just) and learned to fit into this world.

Its taken a long time for me to pluck up the courage to approach my GP about this and I was slightly surprised that even to get a referral i needed ongoing social problems. Actually I probably do but hey ho!

So probably the route to a formal diagnosis is going to be long.? I'm in the Tayside area btw

Cheers

Hey

The default option is to send you an email to tell you there has been a new post in the thread.

Anyway, if you are over the age of 25, services for aspies might as well be nonexistent, at least in Fife. I have no idea about Dundee and Angus or Perthshire, but would not get your hopes up. If there is a one-stop shop in your area, you can't use anyone else's without paying them, but don't get me started.

One of the (now defunct DSM-IV) diagnostic criteria is that "The disturbance causes clinically significant impairments in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning." In other words, if you are not impaired in these fields, you would not get a diagnosis anyway. My somewhat snarky response to this criterion is that it implies that if you have sufficient social privilege to get away with being "a bit odd" or "eccentric" and thus to have friends and get a job, you are not an aspie and can look down on us mortals, but that is a whole other discussion.

At a practical level, it might be worth asking yourself if inabilities to socialise "properly" (make "proper" eye contact, understand nonverbal communication and so on) have impaired your ability to make or keep friends or get and keep a job, then you would meet the diagnostic criteria. Note that this is not mentioned in the ICD-10 criteria (which they should still be using here in any case), but may well be taken into account in the diagnostic instruments used.

It is well worth remembering that AS presents differently in women when compared to men. In particular, women tend to make much better mimics in social situations (most male Aspies find this harder, me included - I admit to being truly dismal at this). There has been some work on developing a cognitive profile of Aspie women, which you can find here: http://taniaannmarshall.wordpress.com/2 ... -syndrome/

Getting a diagnosis is likely to take months (about nine, in my case). I wrote an account of my experience here: http://www.wrongplanet.net/postt154420.html It might help, which is why I did it in the first place.