"Goodness me, isn& #39;t being #autistic expensive?"

Or

I& #39;m autistic and bloody skint.

A thread. Please share.
This is mostly from my own experience, my reading and interactions with other #autistic people. /1
One thing about #autism that isn& #39;t spoken of a great deal outside of #autistic circles is how damnably expensive autism makes everything. I& #39;m not saying it makes prices higher, that would be silly - more that you end up losing considerable cash due to #autistic traits. /2
There are so many ways that #autism can hit your bank account it& #39;s hard to know where to start... but I think I& #39;ll get stuck into diagnosis to begin with. This is not necessarily applicable to NHS users. /3
It seems to me that if you happen to be American and #autistic, then getting yourself a diagnosis is going to cost an absolute fortune. Especially if you seek diagnosis as an adult. Now, as I understand it, you guys have insurance to help, but often this doesn& #39;t cover it? /4
The American health care system is obviously very strange to non-Americans, and I& #39;ve struggled to make sense of it, but I gather that we could be talking about thousands of dollars to be declared #autistic, meaning its well out of reach of most people. This seems silly to me. /5
In the UK its possible you may need to go private if your doctor is unhelpful enough, and in this case again you& #39;ll be talking lots of pounds sterling to get the all-important dx and asboid being treated as some kind of #autistic shill (which self dx can cause, sadly) /6
So the act of finding out that you definitely are #autistic can cost a bomb before you even start. Ironically though, if you are autistic, you& #39;re likely to have less money than your peers,for various reasons. /7
Let& #39;s talk about how executive dysfunction costs you money.

I lost £40 this month on parking fines. It should have been £100 but I appealled the other two. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="😳" title="Flushed face" aria-label="Emoji: Flushed face"> /8
The trouble is, being spectacularly forgetful and absent minded can be really expensive. Think about all those overdue bills, fines, unchanged fuel and phone tariffs, forgotten subscriptions... for #autistic people, the amount of cheeky charges adds up. /9
Those & #39;first month free& #39; subscription offers are evil for people with #Executive dysfunction. #autistic people will, I& #39;m sure, be a key demographic when it comes down to companies making money out of subs left uncancelled, especially if cancelling involves a phone call... /10
I had a subscription to a magazine for three years after I moved house and failed to inform them. Three years of a magazine being delivered somewhere at my expense. I just kept forgetting to do anything about it. That could be foolishness, but I think #autism plays a part /11
Then you& #39;ve got panic buying for when we& #39;ve forgotten to get something. Like realising you& #39;ve forgotten your phone charger on holiday - if you have the cash, you buy a new one. This adds up very quickly. /12 #autism
There& #39;s also the executive dysfunction issue of food, made worse if you& #39;re also anxious or depressed. Cooking can seem unachievable, so convenience food, takeaways etc can eat into your budget. This was a serious issue for me recently,as I simply hadn& #39;t the spoons. /13 #autism
The interaction of mental health (especially depression) can be devastating. Spending to cheer yourself up, to & #39;fill the hole& #39; - it& #39;s a common theme and very tempting. But all this presupposes you have the money to spend in the first place... /14 #autism
The problem with #autism is that until awareness and acceptance are *significantly improved*, employment can be very hard to find and maintain. So poverty and homelessness is a serious threat for #autistic people. /15
Interviews are actively stacked against #autistic people, being far too preoccupied with often irrelevant intersocial skills. Getting a job when #autistic can be unreasonably hard. /16
Then there& #39;s workplace bullying, lack of promotion opportunities, being dismissed due to sickness - the world if work can be hostile to #autistic people. /17
So if we manage to get money there& #39;s no guarantee we& #39;ll be able to reliably continue to get it. This makes independent living extremely difficult, and home ownership beyond the reach of many #autistic people. /18
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