I get healthcare through the US Veterans Health Administration. My therapist admitted she is neuroatypical, but hasn’t been specific. She’s awesome though. When I asked her for an autism assessment after she confirmed that she suspects ASD, she told me that her management told her they don’t do autism assessments because autistic people cannot join the military. They basically told me that I don’t exist. I had to pay for a private provider to confirm that I was autistic. I’m still really upset about this and have thought about creating a huge stink over it. They gave me mental health care for over a decade, misdiagnosed me with all sorts of mental health conditions, and made me think I was a broken person that either didn’t know how to cope with life or was faking symptoms to seek disability. I could have received proper care and not spent the last 15 years wondering why I can’t be happy. That’s incredibly messed up, and the more I type this out, the more I want to contact a congressman.
When I asked her for an autism assessment after she confirmed that she suspects ASD, she told me that her management told her they don’t do autism assessments because autistic people cannot join the military.
Sorry it’s late, but i have to ask because of the vha thing; are you a dependent of a vet or a vet yourself?
No need to apologize!
I am the veteran myself. Adding to my previous comment, I can’t be the only vet in the VHA that’s been through all of this: asking for help and told that we’re making it up. They act on the assumption that recruiters are doing their due diligence and assessing potential recruits for autism, as if recruiters even have the capacity to do that. It’s so messed up. Imagine how many vets are out there wondering what’s wrong with them because mental health services aren’t working, when in reality, they’re just not receiving proper care.
It would probably be worth filing a complaint then. Post service medical care really shouldn’t be considering reenlistment cabability when treating people. The fact that they have a policy to that affect is a problem. Filing a complaint probably won’t fix it, but it’ll definitely help get the vha moving in a better direction.