I didn't have a doctor I liked until I was 23, yes 23. My mother said to me, when I told her when I was 26, that when I was little, I didn't complain. (Hello, I had a meltdown in the waiting room when I was 12, because you tried to force me to see a doctor you knew I didn't like!!).

The only way I can feel comfortable is if I have plenty of warning of what to expect. My gastroenterologist was brilliant with this. I had to have a gastroscopy and an endoscopy in May, and she ensured that I would have a female anaesthetist, I had female nurses tending to me. I spent the night before in hospital, had the procedure and went home the next day. The only male I had any contact with was an orderly, and he was like Brendan Jones from A Country Practice and he even looked like the actor who played him now. I don't know if Home And Away is available in Finland, but Shane Withington, who played him, in A Country Practice, is in Home and Away, now.

One of the things that made me feel very much at home was that I had two Indian nurses. I read Clem Bastow's Late Bloomer: How An Autism Diagnosis Changed My Life while in hospital. When the nurse asked if I was happy for a doctor to admit me, I asked if she could stay with me if the doctor was male, or could ask the doctor not to touch me physically. If the doctor had been Asian (I get on better with Asian doctors), I would have wanted them to say, "They have an affinity with Asian people, so if you can be more like the Japanese Emperor and (then, now King) Prince Charles of England at a meeting, it will be fine."

I need to know that I'll be seeing this doctor (fortunately, my GP is by herself in her practice) and I need an insight into a different doctor before seeing them. As much as I prefer Asian doctors, I generally prefer female doctors, as I have a history of abuse and I find they're more understanding of autistic people, AND, I am not a rough, tough person. I'm quite soft and sensitive, and I don't get on well with other males.