My RAADS-R score is high. Should I see a psychiatrist?

RAADS-R alone is not diagnostic. But scores ≥ 65 warrant clinical evaluation. An autism diagnosis changes the direction of depression / anxiety treatment — autism-tailored therapy (AASPIRE guides, etc.) instead of generic CBT. It is also a basis for negotiating reasonable workplace accommodations.

What changes after an adult autism diagnosis?

① Self-understanding — resolves the lifelong "am I strange?" question ② Appropriate treatment ③ Workplace accommodation negotiation (subsidies if registered with the Employment Agency for Persons with Disabilities) ④ Access to peer autistic communities ⑤ Identity recovery.

My child got an autism diagnosis and I suspect myself.

Autism is 80%+ heritable (twin studies). The "reverse diagnosis" — parents recognizing themselves after their child's diagnosis — is common. If the parent is also evaluated, parenting strategy and family communication improve dramatically.

Adult autism spectrum — Korea's late-diagnosis surge, female masking, the 80-item RAADS-R, "sensory overload" workplace adaptation

In DSM-5, autism is a "spectrum" — including people with normal intelligence and language who have social and sensory differences. Estimated at 1–2% of the population. Korea lacks adult-diagnostic resources, so many live for decades labeled "odd" until their child's diagnosis prompts their own discovery in their 30s–40s. Female autism in particular involves childhood-learned social "masking" that evades standard diagnostic tools — mean diagnostic delay of 8–12 years (Lai & Baron-Cohen, 2015). The RAADS-R 80-item self-scale (score ≥ 65 raises clinical suspicion). The core is not a "deficit" but a "difference" — neurodiversity in sensory processing, social-cue processing, and executive function. Workplace adaptation in Korea: sensory regulation (noise cancellation, light control), requesting explicit communication, isolated rest time. 70% comorbid depression, 50% anxiety — but these come from "friction with the non-autistic world" (minority stress model), not autism itself.

1. The era of late diagnosis

The Korean stereotype "autism = young boy" is breaking down. Adult autism diagnoses rose 5× between 2018 and 2023 (HIRA data). The trigger is most often a child's autism diagnosis leading the parent to recognize their own. Or chronic depression and anxiety unresponsive to standard psychiatric care, until autism is reassessed.

2. "Why did I never notice for so long?"

Masking / Camouflaging

Female autism in particular involves childhood "manual imitation" of peers' social cues. The surface looks like "fits in well", but inside every social situation is a "foreign-language exam". An average 8–10 daily hours of masking accumulate, exploding into Autistic Burnout in the 30s–40s — masking collapses and functioning drops.

Diagnostic infrastructure gap in Korea

Childhood ADOS-2 and CARS are standard, but adult-applicable tools (ADOS-2 Module 4, ADI-R) are available in fewer than 10 hospitals nationwide. Waitlists are 6–12 months.

3. RAADS-R 80 items

Ritvo Autism Asperger Diagnostic Scale-Revised. Validated by Ritvo et al. (2011). 4 domains:

Language (7 items)
Social relations (39 items)
Sensory / motor (20 items)
Special interests (14 items)

Score ≥ 65 (out of 240) = clinical suspicion. ≥ 90 = strong likelihood. Note: self-tests are not diagnostic — they are a signal to seek professional evaluation. Free at aspietests.org.

4. Core neurodiversity domains

Sensory processing

Sense	Hypersensitive	Hyposensitive
Hearing	Fluorescent-light buzz, overlapping conversations → shutdown	Doesn't hear name being called
Vision	Flickering fluorescents, motion overload	—
Touch	Cannot tolerate clothing tags / specific fabrics	Insensitive to temperature change
Taste / smell	Strong rejection of food textures	—
Proprioception	—	Doesn't feel body position

Social cues

Processing nonverbal signals (gaze, expression, tone) requires conscious effort. Repeated learning achieves a passable level, but each interaction has a high cognitive cost. Result: extreme post-social fatigue (one gathering = 2–3 hours → 1–2 days to recover).

Executive function

Difficulty with task sequencing, switching, prioritizing. But when "immersed" in a Special Interest, extraordinary focus and productivity. Many successful examples (Temple Grandin, Greta Thunberg, Anthony Hopkins).

5. Korean workplace adaptation

Negotiate sensory environment: noise-cancelling headphones, window seat, corner space
Request explicit communication: "When you ask me for something, please tell me exactly what to do by when"
"Partial attendance" at drinking parties: 1 hour, first round only — key to preventing autistic burnout
Specify email / messenger preference: easier than spontaneous conversation
Roles that use Special Interest: strong at detail, pattern, system analysis

6. "Coexistence", not "correction"

ABA (Applied Behavior Analysis) is used in Korea as autism "treatment" for children, but adult autistic people report that ABA forces masking and leaves trauma (Kupferstein, 2018). The goal for adult autism is not "become like a non-autistic person" but "design an environment that fits your neurotype". Comorbid depression and anxiety are treated separately (CBT, medication).

7. Korean resources

Adult developmental disability clinics: SNU Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, National Center for Mental Health
Korea Autism Society — adult peer-support groups
Aspie Korea (online community)
1577-0199 for suicidal thoughts