Autism Friendly Lifestyle Choices
Holidays
Insurance guide for people with autism, and mental health conditions.
Fact: Insurance is likely to be more expensive if you are on the autistic spectrum.
Whilst an autism diagnosis may not necessarily be a red flag to an insurance company, There is a good chance that you will end up paying more for some types of insurance than people without autism. This is especially true when also declaring a pre-existing mental health condition such as clinical depression.
It’s all about risk, based on statistics, it’s nothing personal. Insurance companies are guided by data that shows-with life insurance for example, how likely it is that someone with depression will commit suicide. They will apply an additional cost for the associated risk. Anyone that knows anything about autism will wonder how someone with the condition can be accurately assessed for risk. With travel insurance, a history of aggressive behaviour, and whether the person with autism is travelling alone or with a carer, were the only metrics I could find that were used to assess the risk.
If you have autism, you are also likely to have co-existing mental health conditions. Autism also brings a slightly greater risk of epilepsy. Declaring any of these conditions when applying for either travel or life insurance, can increase the cost significantly.
Travel insurance for people with autism and mental health conditions.
When buying travel insurance, you will definitely be assessed during the application process. When applying online with a comparison site such as www.uswitch.com.you will be taken through a series of questions and asked to declare any pre-existing medical conditions. Although the answers you give may not always increase the premium you’ll pay, if you declare your autism, the cost of your travel insurance will almost certainly increase.
If you add additional diagnosed mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, OCD or bipolar disorder for example, then the cost is likely to rise for each condition you declare.
Here are a few examples from a recent nine day trip to France. The results are from a popular comparison website.
CONDITION DECLARED | amount of offers | best offer | COST |
|---|---|---|---|
Without declaring autism | 51 companies offered insurance | Cheapest cover: | £5.56 |
Autism declared | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest cover: | £7.14 |
Autism + History of aggressive behaviour | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest offer: | £25.70 |
Autism + History of aggressive behaviour | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest cover: ALL SAFE | £10.72 |
Autism +Depression | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest offer: | £21.42 |
Autism + Depression + Anxiety | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest offer: | £23.70 |
Autism + Depression + Anxiety + OCD | 25 companies offered insurance | Cheapest cover: | £32.93 |
As you can see, the cost of declaring you have autism, along with a mental health condition, can increase the cost of travel insurance from just over £5 for a 9 day trip to France, to over £32.
I know that many people with autism also have epilepsy. I did not do a costing for this, but epilepsy is likely to push your insurance premium up even higher. It’s interesting that the amount of companies offering travel insurance decreased from 51 to 25, when declaring you have autism. This means that some companies are not prepared to offer travel insurance to people with autism at any price.
The two key factors used to judge the level of risk associated with autism were:
- Does the autistic person have a history of aggressive behaviour?
- Will the autistic person be travelling alone, or with a carer?
It pays to look outside of the big comparison websites.
For example, specialist disability travel insurance provider Get Going offers better deals than the majority of companies listed on comparison sites. They are passionate about helping people with a mental health condition, find cost effective travel insurance.
I spoke to Brooke from Get Going Travel insurance. "Quotes........."
You may be tempted to lie, or omit details of existing health conditions. This is not a good idea!
If something goes wrong on holiday regarding your health, and you need to make a claim, the insurance company will most likely jump at the chance to refuse your claim, on the basis that you did not declare your pre-existing medical conditions
Car insurance for people with autism and mental health conditions.
Car insurance companies inform me that as long as the DVLA (The vehicle licensing authority in the UK) have assessed your medical conditions and given you permission to drive, people with autism and mental health conditions, usually will not pay more for their car insurance.I have recently been issued with a 3 year medical drivers license. This was after the DVLA medical experts assessed my autism and mental health conditions. They cancelled my full license, and replaced it with one that requires my conditions to be reassessed every 3 years.
The cost of my car insurance was not affected by my 3 year medical license.
Life insurance for people with autism and mental health conditions.
At the tender age of 57, I still have not been able to purchase life insurance that is affordable and worthwhile. When I applied, (for the hundredth time!) for life insurance, the company told me that each one of my mental health conditions would add another percentage of cost to my monthly premium. I had applied for £50,000 worth of life cover which for a “normal” person, would cost around £27 per month. For me however, they offered me £30,000 for £38 per month!
This is a huge difference in both the monthly cost and the payout on my death. Obviously the cold, hard stats, indicate that if I forget to take my meds one day, there is x-amount of chance that I would jump off a cliff, and they would have to pay out £50,000 to my next of kin.
I first attempted, (unsuccessfully) to buy life insurance 15 years ago. At present, there appears to be only a few companies prepared to insure someone with autism, depression, anxiety and obsessive compulsive disorder. I will be doing further research on this, as I still need to purchase life insurance. I will pass on any good deals I come across.
Mainstream insurance companies generally did not seem that interested in offering me life insurance. So I contacted a broker to find a company that would. After my medical records were examined by the insurance companies I’d applied to. I was offered life insurance that was un-affordable, with a very limited payout on my death. I was also advised that not many companies would be prepared to offer me life insurance. The best offer I had was from Legal and General. They initially quoted around £19 per month for £50,000 worth of life cover, payable till the age of 75 years of age. For whole of life insurance, the monthly premiums increased to around £38 per month. This was looking good, until I mentioned my autism, depression, anxiety and OCD, (Not to mention my recent Auditory Processing Disorder!)
Legal and General got back to me a couple of days later. Their initial £19 per month for £50,000 worth of life cover, had risen to around £36 per month for £35,000 worth of cover, payable till the age of 75 years of age. This was the best deal I could get, and I decided to decline the offer. It seems that even if your depression and other mental health conditions are under control, through medication and or talking therapy, the insurance companies are still concerned that you are a suicide risk. It wasn’t clear how they had assessed and costed my autism, but somehow they found a way and added this to the proposed monthly premium.
In summary
Travel insurance is a cost that some people are tempted to avoid. Don't do it!.
From my recent holiday experiences, travel insurance has proved to be absolutely vital. The consequences of not having it, could have ended up cost me thousands.
As Brooke from Get Going insurance says, "Quotes"
Dating, relationships and Autism
Dating, relationships and Autism
FACT: Many people on the autistic spectrum, have the same natural desire to find a partner, as your average neurotypical.
However, we may not always know how to cope with our feelings towards the opposite sex (or same sex). As autistic adults, there are a few extra questions we need to ask ourselves that neurotypicals do not:
- Should we only date people on the autistic spectrum?
- If you date a neurotypical, should you tell them you have autism?
- Will they still like you if you do tell them about your autism?
- Would they want to have a serious relationship, knowing there is a
chance that your autism could be passed. genetically. to your children
How to meet a potential partner if you are on the autistic spectrum
- Go to places where there are people that share a similar interest to you. This will give you things to talk about
- Think about the people that you already know at work, college or any social groups you attend. Starting off as friends is a good idea, before attempting to start a relationship. This is a good way of finding out if you like and get on with the other person..
- Asperger dating sites? Possibly, although this may not work for everyone. Get advice from someone you trust. Perhaps they can help you find a trustworthy site
- Mainstream dating sites: Be careful! It will be difficult to understand the intent of people you make contact with. May be okay for some people on the spectrum
Things to avoid
- Don't stand too close to the person you're interested in, (Always be aware that you may be encroaching on their personal space)
- Don't become obsessed with the person you would like to date. This could make them want to avoid you..
- Be careful not to dominate the conversation, especially with topics the other person is not interested. in. (Remember that a conversation between two people involves listening to the other person and not doing all the talking.
When I go on a date, what should I talk about?
This can be difficult for most people, autistic or not. From my experience, it's best to go on a date with someone you have something in common with. I have been on dates (before I was married of course!) when I just could not think of a single thing to say, and the other person did not help by only ever replying with "Yes" or "No." On each occasion, It turned out that we'd had no shared interests.. The end result was an evening of intense embarrassment, and a feeling of failure.
But then there were dates with some people, (girls in my case,) where we talked for hours about all sorts of things. This was possible because we both liked similar things, and had plenty to talk about. This is the reason that I've suggested you join a club or organisation that relates to a topic or hobby you are interested in, so you can meet like-minded people.
- A shared passion for a particular topic
- Perhaps a similar background with interests in common
- Work related topics that are interesting to both of you
- It's always good to ask the other person about their hobbies, work and friends. Note: Conversation means listening to the other person as opposed to talking at them until they are so bored, they may not want to see you again! On the other hand, try not to interrogate the person you're on a date with, by asking them question after question after question. This may take some practice. I learned about the art of conversation by copying people that appeared to be really good at it. Also by observing characters in films and on TV. Fifty years of practice has meant that I can usually have good conversations, although, I still have to concentrate a lot to make sure I don't talk too much or say inappropriate things.
- Once you have some knowledge of their lifestyle, hobbies and work, you will have an idea if they are someone you may want to pursue a relationship with
Note: Both of you have to want a relationship. Just because you do, does not always mean the other person does.
Remember that you will not get on well with everyone you meet.. Sometimes you may have a date that is really awkward, and you will just not get on with that person. This is normal! We all go through those horribly uncomfortable dates where we feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. I have many memories of cringe-worthy dates on my way to finding someone that was right for me.
Should you tell your NT partner you have autism?
I can only give you my personal view on this. A relationship has to be based on honesty and trust. So, if you've began a relationship with an NT, It's only fair to tell them. It may not make any difference if they really want to be with you. And when something needs fixing in the relationship, as it undoubtedly will at some point, at least you will both have the benefit of examining whether your autism has contributed to the problem.
These days, many people have been in relationships for many years, both completely unaware that one of them is on the autistic spectrum, In my case, I had been married for twenty years to an NT woman, before we found out I had high functioning autism. The diagnosis certainly explained why some aspects of our relationship had been problematic. My wife put my idiosyncrasies down to everything from "probably being starved of oxygen at birth!" Mental health problems, and "just born strange!" Luckily she must have thought I had enough good qualities to make up for my apparent "emotional retardness!"
Overall, my diagnosis been good for my marriage. We have been able to work out many of the conversational and other misunderstanding's that had made life difficult at times. My story is echoed by many other newly diagnosed people that have been in long term relationships with NT partners. A diagnosis can really help you, and your partner improve your relationship. Together you can work on strategies to make all those domestic practicalities become easier. A diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder, also answers many of the questions around the "emotional distance" we are sometimes accused of by our NT partners.