Help Arthur get an autism diagnosis

Hi, my name is Lex and I'm fundraising for my amazing partner, Arthur. They are 44 years old, non-binary, queer, a co-parent, an aspiring entrepreneur, and an activist for environment and civil rights causes. They were diagnosed with ADD (now called ADHD, Type-I) as a teenager, Dyscalculia (“math dyslexia”) in university, and an anxiety-depression condition a few years later. We recently realised a lot of their unique perspective and difficulties they’ve had in life could be explained by them having autism as well.

Arthur has always had a difficult time with school and employment due to challenges that come from their ADHD and Dyscalculia, but recently got what I called an "autism discrimination letter" at work: a single job duty they and the other staff had been neglecting, followed by a full page list of textbook autism traits. Arthur is the smartest, most kind, and hardest worker I've ever known. They are my rock and love me so completely that I always feel like I don't deserve it, but they remind me that I absolutely do.

The official diagnosis requires a referral from their doctor and around $3,000 out of pocket (it varies slightly, depending on where you get it done). Like most people, we don’t have that kind of money kicking around. We're able to pay our bills and feed ourselves with my income so we are luckier than many people. But even that situation is being threatened by them being shamed and excluded by family members, and disciplined at work for sometimes failing to mask their obvious autistic traits.

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An autism diagnosis could put Arthur’s family issues in the proper context, and help them be treated fairly in the workplace and in general. Without an official diagnosis they cannot ask for workplace accommodations, have parental access to their younger daughter, nor can they do anything about being discriminated against in the future.

They have done more than 20 pre-assessment clinical psychometric tests (and a few actual assessment questionnaires) on the Embrace Autism psychology website These tests are used by professionals to determine if a formal assessment is necessary, and they “scored” an average of about 80% across all the tests they did. We are currently waiting on a call back from the hospital to book an appointment to have a free Sensory Profile document done as that will expedite the process. But we still need help paying for the official diagnosis, and not have to suffer in uncertainty and discrimination waiting for a diagnosis through a public mental health provider.

Please help us get Arthur an official diagnosis so that we have some recourse against discrimination and also make it easier to find support.

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Attached are the results of their first couple of results from https://embrace-autism.com/autism-tests

Update from Arthur:

Hey all,

I could really use a hand with this. The first few steps of the years-long adult* assessment process is covered by Medicare, but I'm about to reach the limit of the free options available.

I've had a free Sensory Profile test done, which asks about common Neurodivergent sensory overload type things, which I'm pretty sure I almost "aced".

I have an appointment in October with an Audiologist next, to see if my hearing issues are hearing loss or Neurodivergence related Auditory Processing issues.

But those don't confirm anything for the purposes of employment protections, disability funding, or psychological services. They just (hopefully) help the dozens of specialists I'll have to talk to over the next few years take my experiences and traits seriously. But really, it doesn't even guarantee that.

Beyond those tests, because I'm not a student in any recognized sense, is a waiting list of 2-3 years AND several thousand dollars. Because adult assessments aren't covered by ANY existing socialised healthcare models or programs.

Despite how obviously Autistic I am to friends and family, self-assessment or getting "90% probability of Autism" on dozens of online tests, isn't even remotely legally recognized. And without an assessment, I can be arbitrarily and illegally fired due to my "disabilities" on a whim, as I was recently from Chess Piece.

I can't expect my amazingly supportive and loving partner to pay 70% to 80% of the bills again the next time I get fired for trying to do too good of a job cleaning something or preparing for an upcoming rush at some rat-infested, overflowing-grease-trap having, tip-and-wage-thieving, unlivable-wage paying food service job I keep having to work while (re)building my big world-saving social enterprise business consulting thingy.

Please help. Even just $5 or $10 helps immensely, so I can help ensure I don't keep getting arbitrarily fired, and eventually sustainably help others in this same situation FOR FREE!