ACR CAPT DESCRIBED EMER DIVERT INCIDENT WHEN ATC FAILED TO RELAY ACFT STATUS INFO REQUIRING INFO REPEATS DURING BUSY FLT DUTIES.

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WHILE AT CRUISE ALT; THE AUTOPLT KICKED OFF AS THE YAW DAMPER BROKE; I GUESS. THE FLT GUIDANCE PANEL ALSO FAILED AND WENT INTO SOME SORT OF DEFAULT SETTINGS. THIS WAS A BIG DISTR! WE DID THE CHKLIST AND EVERYTHING OK. SAT THE FLT ATTENDANTS DOWN/SEAT BELT SIGN ON; COORDINATED WITH DISPATCH DESK AND MAINT; ETC. DIVERTED TO ZZZ. WE COORDINATED WITH ATC UP AT FL320 FOR BOTH LOWER ALT; SLOWER SPD; EMER STATUS; SOB; FOB; ETC; AND THE ARR INTO ZZZ. KEEP IT SIMPLE; SEND US OVER TO THE W SIDE TO STAY OUT OF EVERYONE'S HAIR SINCE WE HAD TO DO THINGS MANUALLY AND BACK UP ALL SORTS OF STUFF. ALL WAS; FOR THE MOST PART OK UNTIL WE GOT CLOSER IN TO ZZZ. IT SEEMS THE CLOSER WE GOT THE MORE COMPLICATED EVERYTHING BECAME. WE HAD TO ENDLESSLY REPEAT TO EACH NEW CTLR OUR PROB. APCH CTL AT THIS TIME WAS ZERO HELP. AS A MATTER OF FACT IT WAS LIKE PULLING TEETH TO GET THEM TO UNDERSTAND THAT IT WAS RWY 18R WE WANTED; THAT WE WERE AN EMER; BUT THAT NO ENGS WERE SHUT DOWN; EVERY CTLR GOT NO INFO FROM THE PREVIOUS ONE. (IT WOULD HELP EVERYONE OUT IF IT WAS TAKEN CARE OF.) THERE WAS A TIME WHEN DECLARING AN EMER WITH ATC WOULD HELP YOU OUT. SO THERE WE WERE: IN THE WX; DOING EVERYTHING MANUALLY; RUNNING BOTH NORMAL AND ABNORMAL CHKLISTS; TRYING TO MAKE SURE ALL THE THINGS ARE COVERED AS THEY SHOULD BE; AND THEN WE GOT TO COVER FOR THE APCH CTLRS. NOT GOOD/NOT SAFE. I LOST TRACK OF HOW MANY TIMES I TOLD THEM WE'RE AN EMER FOR A REASON OTHER THAN A SHUT DOWN ENG; THAT WE SET UP FOR AND WANTED TO GET OUT OF EVERYONE'S WAY BY GOING TO RWY 18R. THIS IS NOT THE FIRST TIME THAT ZZZ AND THE LCL ATC FOLKS MAKE SIMPLE STUFF VERY DIFFICULT.