Asperger's Syndrome and ATC

[Leonard320]

Hi all

This is my first post and I am hoping I am posting in the right forum.

I have booked up for Stage 1 selection tests for NATS at the end of this Month. I have been speaking to both them and the CAA over my Asperger's Syndrome, Dyspraxia and height (6'4'') to find out if I would be granted a Class 1 medical.

The CAA are wanting a report, the only one I posses is 5 years old when I was diagnosis.

Does anyone have any ideas if I will be eligible for the certificate or has anyone had any experiences with Asperger's and a Class 1 medical. Also would a 5year old report be acceptable to the CAA, even though things have changed since I was 13!

Thanks
Ben Leonard

[2close]

Hi Ben,

Welcome to the madhouse.

I would save myself some time and heartache now by getting an up-to-date report as the CAA will in all probability request this.

You may as well write directly to the CAA Chief Medical Officer and request the names of their approved consultants in this field, if they indeed have one.

Also check whether, if they do not have an approved consultant, they are prepared to accept your own consultant.

I would also ask who is going to fund the cost of your examination and report (PM me on this one for further information, if you wish).

DO NOT e-mail - they tend to get lost in the maelstrom of junk they receive on a daily basis. By all means telephone in the first instance but make sure you follow this up with a written request by Recorded or Special Delivery.

HTH and Best of Luck

2close

[Leonard320]

Thanks for the infomation 2close.

I will be doing my stage 1 next monday and based on the outcome I will speak to both NATS and the CAA to make sure I see the correct person.

Thanks

Ben Leonard

[Charlie Foxtrot India]

I have family members with Aspergers and some say I have many of the traits myself, though not officially "diagnosed" years ago a child psychologist did a report on me that said that I would do well in a job such as ATC because of my ability to focus, love of patterns, order and numbers and very good spatial orientation...for various reasons however I ended up as a controllee rather than controller! And I hold a class one medical. Not being comfortable in social situations doesn't mean that I am going to become incapacitated on the flight deck or have any problems working in a team on a set task.

I read in the paper about that UK guy who hacked into the pentagon computer being described as a "victim" or "suffering" from Aspergers. It's not a disease, it's a gift - (unless you want to be the most popular kid in school! )All my Aspie rellies have happy fulfilled lives and good careers mostly in science and music.

Good luck!

[gingernut]

Probably one of the most forward thinking leader in the field of health care, I know, has asperger traits, (although I doubt his diagnosis has been formalised).

He thinks on a completely different level than most.

Keep us posted.

[JohnRayner]

Leonard320, you exemplify a situation that I fear is going to be all too common in the coming decades.

The need to medicalise every little thing in our current society means that lots of "shy" and "slightly clumsy" individuals are now getting medical diagnoses to go with these traits

And I'm really having trouble understanding why. Until I get cynical, then I wonder if getting your kid a diagnosis of Aspergers (if you don't fit in) or ADHD (if you're badly behaved) somehow absolves (in their own minds at least) some parents from responsibility over the way their child develops...

"it's not my fault they're like this, they have a medical condition"

And then said child (who back in the day would for the most part would have been considered e.g. shy but bright) has to break out into the big bad world, and comes up against e.g. the need for constant evaluation of their condition, specialist assessment of their condition prior to employment, and (dare I say it) discrimination on the grounds of perceived higher maintenance due to having a condition.

Also, traits found in e.g. Aspergers/ Chronic fatigue/ ADHD, can, I suspect, be found in everyone to some extent, at some point in their lives (I know when I look at various DSM diagnostic criteria I always go "Oh! I do/did that!"). So at what point does or should being really bright but not very good at parties become an issue of diagnosis? Why should a perfectly functional human being have this done to them?

In short Leonard320. I hope you get what you want. You seem perfectly eloquent when posting online. I just can't help but think you're probably going to have some pretty needless obstacles and extra hoops thrown in your way to cope with.

Regards,

JR

P.S. As an interesting aside, and purely anecdotally, from my position of being able to deal with kids from most social backgrounds, I've noticed that the kids with the actual or presumed diagnosis of ADHD, ADD or ODD (oppositional defiant disorder, medicalese for not doing as your told ;) ) often come from the lower social spectrum, single parent families, unstable home circumstances etc. etc. While the Aspie/ ME/ kiddies seem to derive from the countrified middle class, stable, booooring parts of our area.

Well I think it's interesting....


Rant off.

[Leonard320]

Thanks for all the replys.

At the minute I am not having to persue getting a medical as I didn't pass the stage 1 tests, so its back to hunting for anything again.

Thanks
Ben Leonard

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Was the stage 1 failure anything to do with your medical problems?

[Leonard320]

Heathrow Director, No it wasn't due to my Asperger's.

I think in the end I just wern't good enough in the tests. I must say they are the hardest I have ever done. In the end I only managed to do 17/40 of the cubes, around 30/50 diagrams, some were random guesses in the last minute and 16/20 in the maths. The only one I felt I did well in was the ATC paper.