The AQ50 autism test

The AQ50 is the standard initial autism test used in the UK and elsewhere. It was developed more than twenty years ago by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge, and his colleague Dr Sally Wheelwright.

It consists of fifty multiple choice questions and takes ten to twenty minutes to complete, with a score supplied at the end. The average score for neurotypical women is fifteen out of fifty, for neurotypical men it’s seventeen. A score of twenty-six or over means you have significant autistic traits, and eighty per cent of autistic people score thirty-two or above.

The test is by no means perfect as several questions ask about dates and numbers. These tend to be more traditionally male autistic interests, meaning autistic women and girls who don’t share them are likely to score lower than they perhaps should.

If you decide to take the test, you can compensate for this by imagining these questions are about something else you’ve a passion for: a particular type of collecting or crafting, perhaps, or some other area of special interest.

Getting a formal diagnosis

Not everyone wants or needs a formal diagnosis for autism (ASC/ASD), but if you do, the first step is to contact your GP. They don’t make the diagnosis themselves: they’re merely gatekeepers for those who do.

The better prepared you are, the more likely you are to get a referral without having to make a massive fuss. Have your AQ50 result ready and detailed notes on how your autism presents and impacts your life, along with a list of questions you’d like answered. You might also want to have a confident friend, relative or colleague on hand to advocate for you.

Due to ignorance about the condition, particularly when it affects women, or the desire to save resources, some GPs may initially decline to refer you. Hopefully, this won’t happen, but if it does, your options are to refuse to take no for an answer, demand a second opinion – or go private. (Prices for private diagnosis range from £730, at the Adult Autism Practice, to several thousand pounds.)

Assuming your GP agrees, depending on where you live, waiting times for NHS diagnosis vary from two to four years. However, if you’re in England, you don’t have to wait that long. Under the right-to-choose (RTC) pathway, despite what your GP might tell you, you have a legal right to be referred for a private psychiatric assessment paid for by the NHS. (Sadly, RTC doesn’t apply elsewhere.)

These are carried out online by providers such as Psychiatry UK and Clinical Partners, who hold NHS contracts for the service. Until recently, it was possible to get right-to-choose assessments with a wait of a couple of months, but rising demand means it can now take four to six. That’s still considerably quicker than on the NHS.

My RTC assessment was done by Psychiatry UK. I was so nervous I burst into tears before the psychiatrist had finished introducing herself, but she was kind and attentive and had read my paperwork carefully, so it wasn’t nearly as traumatic as I feared. She gave me a verbal diagnosis at the end, and a few weeks later I received her detailed report, proof positive that I am, and always have been, autistic.

Picture: Guy Stevens.