My Support Forums - View Single Post - A bit of self-advocacy for the sake of dignity

leejosepho · 10:49 PM

Here is the major portion of a letter I have sent to a medical doctor who had sent me a registered letter informing me another appointment would not be made for me after I had twice left her office before seeing her after having already waited at least an hour past each of those two appointment times:

Quote:

Dr. F.:

Whether or not you might ever again see me as a patient, I am hoping you have the desire, willingness and time to review the following and to restore a bit of my dignity harmed by your December 6th letter containing some misinterpretation and misunderstanding of my actions and attitudes in your office on December 1st, 2016...

At the time of my earlier, first-ever appointment at your office on October 3rd, I had been told you do not see patients who arrive as few as two minutes late for an appointment...then I saw you there within just a few minutes of my scheduled appointment time. Overall, our interactions on that day left me confident of not later having to deal with sensory overload (crowded waiting areas) or other stressors such as unexpected or unanticipated schedule disruptions.

At your satellite location on November 16th, I made an honest effort to deal with its crowded-and-confusing (sensory overload) conditions until discovering my blood pressure was quite elevated and my brain was headed toward shutdown. It was at that point that I did my best to make it clear to your staff that I am on the autism spectrum and was not upset (as in any kind of angry) but that I did need to leave.

All seemed well when I first arrived at your office on December 1st, and it did not take long for me to begin realizing my experience on that day was not going to be the same as on October 3rd. I did manage to have some pleasant conversation with another patient waiting to see you, and I did also manage a bit of napping in hopes of getting through an unanticipated and stressful time of waiting.

note: The quoted excerpts that follow are from her letter to me...

I did not “got irritated on the wait time” on December 1st, and the frustration one of your staff saw at the time I left was related to myself as stemming from my not having been prepared for the lengthy wait I had unexpectedly encountered. Also, I did not “threw your appointment card to the office staff”. Wanting to not invade anyone’s space by doing something like reaching through the window to lay it on the desk, I simply “discarded” it to the desk (essentially the same as playing a card at the table) since I no longer had any need of it.

I do understand your need to formalize a refusal to see a patient, and I also understand your right to do that for any reason of your own choosing. However, it would be inexcusable to ever again attempt to justify such a refusal while relying upon a lack of knowledge and/or consideration of certain challenges faced by autistic or mental-health patients such as myself.

I will not be surprised or angry if I do not hear back from her, but at least now maybe she will be a bit more careful with one or more other mentally- or emotionally-challenged patients.