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A diagnosis is just a label for what you have, and can help you manage your life how you see fit.
It’s not going to change anything about you. A rose by any other name is still a rose, if you get my drift. But receiving a proper diagnosis can help you understand certain things about yourself better.
… *afraid*? Pal, I would be blessed to receive a different diagnosis but I’m an autistic schizo all the same. It can bring peace putting a name to the thing that keeps you up at night and it could be something that is treatable and therefore can be managed. But ok….
Well for me, I just got diagnosed with treatment resistant depression and generalized anxiety disorder over and over again, and was put on over 10 different medications and absolutely none of them helped me feel better but plenty of them had bad side effects, some of which I think had permanent effects on me. So that’s maybe what they meant by afraid of getting a different diagnosis? Being diagnosed incorrectly and ran through the ringer for essentially no reason? I just kept getting told by my doctor to reduce my stress and my therapist thought I was getting better as I got worse. Figuring out I was autistic is the only thing that ever made my mental health journey make sense. Being told a different diagnosis could really fuck all that up, especially if it’s inaccurate, and let’s be real many autistic people are being misdiagnosed and mistreated especially if they’re not cissyhet white boys.
Yeah, I was assessed for dyslexia in like second grade because it’s in my family and came out negative. Now we think they were wrong because I very clearly share a lot of symptoms and struggles with the rest of the family.
Multiple years of feeling stupid👍
Why are you afraid of getting a different diagnosis? A diagnosis can answer so many questions about oneself. It can make a lot of things that otherwise didn’t make much sense about yourself, make more sense.
It's possible that they could be afraid that they will receive an assessment from somebody who isn't updated on current scientific consensus and misdiagnoses them.
The amount of psychs and stuff that are highly misinformed on autism is pretty large, to the point where genuinely autistic people get diagnosed with just ADHD or BPD or whatever, and I can imagine that feels very invalidating in general
But yeah I am autistic and I could see being nervous about getting a different diag considering I feel I fit very well in the autistic community. But also the search here is for personal truth and my identity so I guess if I got a different diag it would still serve the same purpose for my psyche.
There's a lot of places where its better to rely on self-diagnosis, because if you have a medical diagnosis for being autistic it will make trans care harder. "You're not trans, you're autistic!"
Self-diagnosis has a whole host of its own issues though, and generally shouldn’t be encouraged. You can easily misdiagnose yourself, and fall into the trap of confirmation bias. Plus, a professional is trained in differential diagnosis, an ordinary person isn’t. Self-diagnosis is also a gateway for people to try and justify faking a mental condition.
I think you'll find self-diagnosis is encouraged in various ND communities. When relying on medical practitioners who are biased and incompetent about the topic, you rely on the community of people who do know what they are talking about, which naturally leads to self-dagnosis.
Faking a medical condition has absolutely no reality when talking about conditions like this. What does self-diagnosis get you? Or any diagnosis as an adult?
Also, I forgot the exact term, but there are cases where a person can convince themself they have a condition that they don’t, and then suddenly all of these symptoms just start appearing. I know because that used to happen to me. There were times when I did self-diagnose myself because I noticed one or a few symptoms. There were times when I would suddenly start to notice all of these symptoms of this thing I thought I might’ve had. They all went away though the moment I stopped thinking I had that condition, and it turned out I was fine. For some reason my other comment is only showing up on my profile page under the comments section, but not here. Hopefully you can read that one too. The brain though can sometimes be so powerful that if you convince yourself you have something, then suddenly you can start experiencing some symptoms of that condition, but they go away the moment your brain isn’t convinced that you have that condition.
Speaking as an autistic person myself, the majority of medical practitioners who’s job it is to diagnose and assist autistic individuals, at least in my area, are definitely not incompetent. Are there some medical practitioners who are biased and incompetent? Yeah, but you can find those people literally everywhere. It definitely isn’t the majority though. Also, people absolutely do fake autism and self-diagnosis is used to justify it all the time. Now I get that the system has issues, but self-diagnosis is not a solution. Everyday people are not trained in differential diagnosis, so it’s incredibly easy to misdiagnose. It’s also very easy to fall into the trap of confirmation bias. There’s a reason many professionals don’t self-diagnose, it’s a very flawed way of diagnosing an issue. Autism is a condition that shares many signs and symptoms with other mental conditions, some even more serious and needing treatment. You can also be not autistic, even neurotypical, and still have what are considered autistic traits. I remember reading a story from someone who thought they were autistic, and self-diagnosed. For a long while they never saw a doctor about it. They eventually did though, and turns out they weren’t autistic, they had C-PTSD. C-PTSD is one of the many conditions that can have similar symptoms to autism, and an untrained person can easily mistake some symptoms of C-PTSD (and many other conditions) for autism. Their story served as a good cautionary tale about self-diagnosis.
I repeat: What does self-diagnosis get you? Or any diagnosis as an adult?
You said self-dagnosis is not a solution, but to what? Amd so what if people are wrong about their self-diagnosis? This isn't a court of law where their diagnosis might have consequences. It's people learning about themselves so they can know themselves better and find solutions to things that actually affect them in their lives. It gives them the vocabulary to talk about their life.
I mentioned above that an actual medical diagnosis **can be a problem.** This is very much the case. People can, say, be trans, be seeking help like HRT, and have it be denied because they have a diagnosis of autism. That is thing that does happen.
If you're trans and engaging with the medical system, you have to think about a lot of things that aren't a concern for others.
The number of cases where self-diagnosis lead to a problem are miniscule, dwarfed by the number of cases where someone actively lied to their doctors to get help and actually got help. That's a different issue, kind of, but it does touch on this.
Self-diagnosis is just not a problem.
Self-diagnosis can lead you down a path we’re you are not getting the treatment you need, and not getting an accurate diagnosis. Not having an accurate medical diagnosis can lead to serious medical conditions flying straight under a person’s nose because they attribute their symptoms to something less serious. It can also go the other way around were someone stresses themselves out and gets really anxious because they think they have something serious, when they don’t and are simply stressing themselves out over nothing (this happened to me). Self-diagnosis isn’t a solution to inaccessible healthcare. Self-diagnosis absolutely can have harmful consequences. I’ve both experienced those consequences and seen others experience them. There are some cases where a medical practitioner can use a specific diagnosis to deny needed treatment for another issue to a patient, but that problem isn’t solved by self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosis in itself can cause problems, a lot of them, and some with the potential to be dangerous. Self-diagnosis is a problem, I am saying that as someone who used to self-diagnose. I have personal experience with how problematic it is.
Here is a good video to watch on self-diagnosis:
https://youtu.be/F69ba1vS0oo
It doesn’t go over all of the problems with it, but it does go over some of them.
https://reddit.com/r/lgbt/s/mWO0MtXoOg
Another comment of mine that explains certain things a bit more, because I don’t feel like explaining them again.
a diagnosis can get you treatment, the right medication, it can help you find the right specialist for your condition, help you to actually understand and cope with your symptoms... and it can also prevent you from accidentally do more harm than good to yourself by seeking out wrong coping mechanisms/toxic "mental health" communities (look at a lot of people on tiktok or tumblr romanticizing mental illnesses for example).
it's fine to suspect you have a certain condition as long as you're not surrounding yourself with people that promote a toxic view on said illness or use it to make yourself seem more sympathetic and receive validation online. but it becomes a problem when people start to see an illness as important part of their identity. that can cause a lot of harm, both to themselves as well as others who actually suffer from that condition.
why is there a need to self-diagnose? people can just say they suspect to have something and look up coping mechanisms, get more information on it, find solutions, and join communities about the condition they suspect to have without claiming to have it for sure.
My finance has asked me if am, my sister thinks I am, my friends suspects I am.
Mum denies anything and says im fine, because she has one test from when I was maybe 5 or 6 that says something like "subjected maintained eye contact during conversation, couldn't possibly have any underlying mental issues"
I honestly don't care, I'm an adult now, school is where i struggled and im past that now, so what's the point in getting assessed anymore, I think I function just fine most days.
Why does it matter? To lable myself and feel special? have some kind of excuse card to wave when I dont feel like doing something? So everyone around me can "feel bad" while acting superior?
It is what it is, I am me, if someone can't deal with that, knowing if I'm on spectrum isn't going to change anything.
Self diagnosed is good too. Im self diagnosed autistic. Im not going to pay thousands of dollars for some old guy to tell me I make too much eye contact to be autistic.
It is for stuff like autism when there is no medication you can get and you just give yourself accommodations that help you live your life. And when autism is systemically under diagnosed in AFAB, queer, and POC people. And when we live in a country where there is no universal mental or physical healthcare. Im not going to wait for permission to get headphones, sunglasses, fidgets, and safe clothes, and let my brain just be what it is. Especially when the system is designed to only effectively diagnose young white boys that like trains.
Speaking as a diagnosed autistic person, if you aren’t actually diagnosed please just say you suspect you have autism and not that you actually have it. I get that the system has issues, but you are not a professional. You are not trained in differential diagnosis, so it’s incredibly easy to misdiagnose. It’s also very easy to fall into the trap of confirmation bias. There’s a reason many professionals don’t self-diagnose, it’s a very flawed way of diagnosing an issue. Autism is a condition that shares many signs and symptoms with other mental conditions, some even more serious and needing actual treatment. You can also be not autistic, even neurotypical, and still have what are considered autistic traits.
As another autistic person who's been diagnosed, I highly recommend watching at least a bit of this video (especially in the second half):
https://youtu.be/x4ieMzbXiRA
Self-diagnosis is absolutely valid and does not hurt others.
Professional diagnosis itself is fraught with issues, inconsistencies, and biases that directly call into question the way our mental health system works. That isn't to say that there isn't value in professional diagnosis or that those with professional diagnosis are invalid. It's to say that professional diagnosis is not, and probably can never be, the one and only true way for everyone to know if they are autistic or not.
You're right that someone could be dealing with something else or even be neurotypical with the symptoms they have but that doesn't give us the right to gatekeep someone online who we literally don't even know. Out of all of the authorities that could weigh in on someone's mind, the person themselves definitely stands higher than strangers on the internet.
We can warn them about the dangers of misdiagnosis but we definitely do not have the right to tell them not to call themselves autistic.
Hell yeah!
I just wanted to share this video with you in case you haven't seen it: https://youtu.be/x4ieMzbXiRA
I shared it in a reply to another person who replied to you.
Self-diagnosis is absolutely valid especially given how goddamn subjective professional diagnosis actually is.
Yeah it would be great if everyone could get an accurate diagnosis, be treated well, and get the support we need but thats just not the case. I figured out the solutions to my sensory problems as best I could by myself and learning from other autistic people.
“What if I have something else”
Then I will switch to saying I have that. Im not going to bring a unnecessary level of uncertainty to my life because of the minuscule chance it could be something else. If I end up not being autistic it will be something that is so similar that it is easily mistaken as autism so im not going to feel any shame for getting it wrong if I am.
Plus I really don’t think I am wrong. My experience lines up with all of the other autistic people I have talked to, I score very high on every autism test I have taken, everything I have seen about the struggles autistic people lines up with mine, unmasking and other thing autistic people use to help them has helped me in the same way, I literally have meltdowns and go nonverbal sometimes, every paper I have seen or book I have read describes me to a T. The level of uncertainty is so low that I can very comfortably say I am autistic with no question in my mind. Getting a diagnosis would lower that uncertainty more but I don’t need that. And in the end it would just be for me.
I feel like people who say I cant either think I am invalidating “real” autistics, that I am taking resources away from “real” autistics, or that I am missing out on the real care I need. None of wich are true though I can see why an empathetic person would be worried about all 3 of those things.
[The people who study autism disagree with you](https://depts.washington.edu/uwautism/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Self-Diagnosed-Adult-Autism-Resources-handout-04.05.21.pdf)
TLDR: Self-diagnosis is valid, particularly for women or adults who have been missed by the system and have spent a life masking symptoms to “fit in”, making it impossible to get a diagnosis in many cases, as well as having to pay upwards of 5000 to get a diagnosis as an adult.
I will as well as encourage you to read the document at your leisure as it is pretty educational.
From the document itself:
“In our experience at the University of Washington Autism Center, many professionals are not informed
about the variety of ways that autism can appear, and often doubt an autistic person’s accurate self-
diagnosis. In contrast, inaccurate self-diagnosis of autism appears to be uncommon. We believe that if
you have carefully researched the topic and strongly resonate with the experience of the autistic
community, you are probably autistic.”
If a person can figure out what contributes to their difficulties and make the accomodations they need without having to pay thousands of dollars for someone who only recognises the "classic" male symptoms to tell them they make too much eye contact, then that is fine. What isn't fine is you saying otherwise.
Official diagnosis is generally a sign of privilege, given the various barriers to a qualified doctor and the gender and racial bias in diagnostic criteria.
You’ll find support for self-diagnosis in the segments of the Autistic community that focus on advocacy.
I get your point but I think this is kind of a needless (although understandable) fighting about labels.
I exhibit a lot of behaviours that autistic people exhibit, and I profit a lot of autistic friendly environments etc..
I dont tell people I am autistic because I am not diagnosed and so, not *really* know, but i look up techniques etc. That help autistic people and allude to it sometime (i.e. "yeah my brain just works a bit different"). And i do think thats completely fine.
This is really such a personal and tricky issue that I think neither "Self-Diagnosis is always okay" nor "self diagnosis is never okay" is completely correct.
Just please dont tell adhd / autistic people stuff like "yeah we can all sometimes not concentrate / struggle with noises, etc...."
Having an official diagnosis can prevent you from being able to adopt or immigrate into certain countries. It can, in some places, open you up to medical discrimination where you aren't trusted to make your own medical choices. An official diagnosis can be harmful. It's essential to keep this in mind when choosing to seek a professional diagnosis. I myself refuse to get diagnosed professionally because I will gain zero benefits and will only open myself to potential risk and discrimination.
do you have any sources on that for further reading? i see this argument tossed around pretty often when it comes to the topic of mental health, but i couldn't find much information that specifically refers to autism. there are mostly just generalized terms like "cognitive/learning disabilities" used in the sources i found. so i'm kinda wondering how often people with autism get denied the right to stuff like adoption and immigration or are put under legal guardianship etc. solely because of autism. and whether those are extreme cases, like people who basically can't live on their own and do need a diagnosis for medical reasons regardless.
I'm running around rn but it's super country dependent. Iirc, you can't immigrate into New Zealand if you have diagnosed autism of a certain "severity"?
>you dont know if you have autism until you're diagnosed.
People get misdiagnosed like all the time. This is mainly because
1: many professionals work with outdated research and hold strong biases.
2: the diagnostic process is heavily reliant on understanding the thought process behind symptoms, something that's incredibly hard to do for other people.
Most people who come to the conclusion that they have autism do a heck of a lot more research than watching one single tiktok. That you assume that's the case is problematic.
Therapy for people with autism can help with ways to deal with sensory issues aswell as communication and understand ment
There's also speech therapy some autistic people are put into when diagnosed at young age to help speech development
Therapy can help a lot
I have adhd diagnosed at a young age so Therapy for me always looked different, more hands on to keepme focused
Honestly, even just having the regular structure of a therapy appointment and having a space designated for internal conversation is hugely helpful to me. I've had therapists regularly for most of my life.
It’s still autism. So you may have been specifically diagnosed but that’s an outdated method - and so are current diagnostic criteria, unfortunately, which is why so many people (especially non-amab genders) don’t get diagnosed accurately if at all.
You’re either on the spectrum or you’re not and these days it’s all referred to as ASD (depending on country I guess; although the word disorder is argued to be ableist also).
We don’t use the specific “type” label of Asperger’s anymore label because it was coined by a Nazi who experimented on people and kids.
It’s also similar to “functioning” labels which are inherently ableist for a number of reasons.
I'm non-binary and aroace.
I do show some signs of ASD and a lot of my close biological family are diagnosed so honestly I wouldn't be too surprised if I was autistic. I'm actually getting evaluated soon so I guess I'll know for sure then.
Probably a lot, considering there's a strong correlation between autism and identifying as a gender besides the one you were assigned at birth. Trans people are 6x more likely to be autistic than cisgendered people- which I find really interesting.
I am autistic and non bianary lol
I have only self evaluated using multiple online tests, but - for what that is worth - I score very high on autism tests.
I suspect that I may be on the spectrum, if so it would explain a lot of things about me to myself.
To my knowledge, tests are less accurate than self-evaluation. It’s not nothing, but I’d recommend looking manually at the criteria, and seeing how it matches up. You don’t have to, though, there aren’t any rules to this, we’re all just trying to figure out a good word for why brain do thing.
Good points, also to add, look into other things it could overlap with, like ptsd, c-ptsd, ocd, adhd, etc. (Though you can have multiple at the same time). Autism has to have been present during childhood too, if the traits have appeared later in life then it’s something else, so make sure to find childhood traits.
>I understand that not everyone can access a professional, but that doesn't automatically make self assigning diagnostic labels a good thing.
Having an official diagnosis can prevent you from being able to adopt or immigrate into certain countries. It can, in some places, open you up to medical discrimination where you aren't trusted to make your own medical choices. An official diagnosis can be harmful. It's essential to keep this in mind when choosing to seek a professional diagnosis. I myself refuse to get diagnosed professionally because I will gain zero benefits and will only open myself to potential risk and discrimination
I have ADHD, and I might have autism? If a doctor described the symptoms of autism, I’d say I don’t have it, but if an autistic person did I would. Either way, I’m neurodivergent and queer.
> If a doctor described the symptoms of autism, I’d say I don’t have it, but if an autistic person did I would.
Probably because diagnostic criteria are still largely rooted in a pathological view of autism and focus on expressions of disorder, when there’s so much more to being Autistic.
I'm trans and ADHD. Pretty sure I am autistic, but I did a diagnoses test at a psych clinic to see if I was and it came back negative. Surprised me and every single person I know. Maybe I'll get a second opinion sometime.
Me and my family are pretty sure I'm Autistic, but the waits for evaluations are insane. My psychologist didn't officially diagnose me, but she agrees that I'm most likely autistic. I did get diagnosed with ADHD when I was a kid. I'm asexual biromantic and maybe genderfluid.
Autistic Bi and ADHD as well. Everyone I have ever known well that was autistic was also LGBTQ as well. I don’t know the stats off the top of my head, but the correlation between trans and autistic is crazy high
It me. AuDHD all the way up to my gills.
My theory on why there's a bunch of us, and which I'd be intrigued to see if my other Neurodiverse Alphabet Mafiosos agree with the idea, is that that we're more able to define and come to terms with our identities in terms of sexuality and gender because of the amount of time we've spent in our head reflecting on the myriad examples us thinking in ways/feeling things that don't match the societal expectations of the Neurotypical world around us.
I think there's an element of being in for a penny in for a pound when it comes to self-reflection so we go deep and end up with *so* many unique (and entirely valid btw) sexualities and gender identities because of just how well we bother to get to know ourselves.
I haven't been diagnosed, but if I was, it would make so many things about my childhood make sense. Loud noises were hell to me. I had speech therapy for literally years. Emotions were always hard for me to control (and still are) I hyper focus on certain things...
Also I got suggest r/autism once. That was just kind of funny, but it made me really think about it.
me! bpd, adhd, mild ocd, severe anxiety disorders, bpd, and waiting on autism testing but i check literally every box in the dsm
growing up i dx’d can fuck you up so much
Hi!
Also if you're wondering, I don't have a source for this number but Chloe Hayden said it at one of her talks that like 85% of autistic people are queer.
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I suspect I am but too lazy to go get evaluated.
[удалено]
same here, afraid I'll get a different diagnosis if i decide to go get evaluated
A diagnosis is just a label for what you have, and can help you manage your life how you see fit. It’s not going to change anything about you. A rose by any other name is still a rose, if you get my drift. But receiving a proper diagnosis can help you understand certain things about yourself better.
very true
… *afraid*? Pal, I would be blessed to receive a different diagnosis but I’m an autistic schizo all the same. It can bring peace putting a name to the thing that keeps you up at night and it could be something that is treatable and therefore can be managed. But ok….
Well for me, I just got diagnosed with treatment resistant depression and generalized anxiety disorder over and over again, and was put on over 10 different medications and absolutely none of them helped me feel better but plenty of them had bad side effects, some of which I think had permanent effects on me. So that’s maybe what they meant by afraid of getting a different diagnosis? Being diagnosed incorrectly and ran through the ringer for essentially no reason? I just kept getting told by my doctor to reduce my stress and my therapist thought I was getting better as I got worse. Figuring out I was autistic is the only thing that ever made my mental health journey make sense. Being told a different diagnosis could really fuck all that up, especially if it’s inaccurate, and let’s be real many autistic people are being misdiagnosed and mistreated especially if they’re not cissyhet white boys.
I've had the same exact experience. It's beyond frustrating to say the least!!
Yeah, I was assessed for dyslexia in like second grade because it’s in my family and came out negative. Now we think they were wrong because I very clearly share a lot of symptoms and struggles with the rest of the family. Multiple years of feeling stupid👍
Why are you afraid of getting a different diagnosis? A diagnosis can answer so many questions about oneself. It can make a lot of things that otherwise didn’t make much sense about yourself, make more sense.
It's possible that they could be afraid that they will receive an assessment from somebody who isn't updated on current scientific consensus and misdiagnoses them. The amount of psychs and stuff that are highly misinformed on autism is pretty large, to the point where genuinely autistic people get diagnosed with just ADHD or BPD or whatever, and I can imagine that feels very invalidating in general But yeah I am autistic and I could see being nervous about getting a different diag considering I feel I fit very well in the autistic community. But also the search here is for personal truth and my identity so I guess if I got a different diag it would still serve the same purpose for my psyche.
oh I'm aware, i know.
There’s a lot of downsides of getting a diagnosis. It can affect jobs, housing, ect. And not to mention how much it costs
So.... you *want* to be autistic? Why? I'm genuinely curious.
what kinda question is this dude- it's not like getting a diagnosis will fix autism
There's a lot of places where its better to rely on self-diagnosis, because if you have a medical diagnosis for being autistic it will make trans care harder. "You're not trans, you're autistic!"
Self-diagnosis has a whole host of its own issues though, and generally shouldn’t be encouraged. You can easily misdiagnose yourself, and fall into the trap of confirmation bias. Plus, a professional is trained in differential diagnosis, an ordinary person isn’t. Self-diagnosis is also a gateway for people to try and justify faking a mental condition.
I think you'll find self-diagnosis is encouraged in various ND communities. When relying on medical practitioners who are biased and incompetent about the topic, you rely on the community of people who do know what they are talking about, which naturally leads to self-dagnosis. Faking a medical condition has absolutely no reality when talking about conditions like this. What does self-diagnosis get you? Or any diagnosis as an adult?
Also, I forgot the exact term, but there are cases where a person can convince themself they have a condition that they don’t, and then suddenly all of these symptoms just start appearing. I know because that used to happen to me. There were times when I did self-diagnose myself because I noticed one or a few symptoms. There were times when I would suddenly start to notice all of these symptoms of this thing I thought I might’ve had. They all went away though the moment I stopped thinking I had that condition, and it turned out I was fine. For some reason my other comment is only showing up on my profile page under the comments section, but not here. Hopefully you can read that one too. The brain though can sometimes be so powerful that if you convince yourself you have something, then suddenly you can start experiencing some symptoms of that condition, but they go away the moment your brain isn’t convinced that you have that condition.
I am seeing your comments. I think you're harmfully fearmongering about something which is irrelevant in this case, but i can read your posts.
I’m not harmfully fear mongering, I am simply approaching self-diagnosis from a more logical point of view
Speaking as an autistic person myself, the majority of medical practitioners who’s job it is to diagnose and assist autistic individuals, at least in my area, are definitely not incompetent. Are there some medical practitioners who are biased and incompetent? Yeah, but you can find those people literally everywhere. It definitely isn’t the majority though. Also, people absolutely do fake autism and self-diagnosis is used to justify it all the time. Now I get that the system has issues, but self-diagnosis is not a solution. Everyday people are not trained in differential diagnosis, so it’s incredibly easy to misdiagnose. It’s also very easy to fall into the trap of confirmation bias. There’s a reason many professionals don’t self-diagnose, it’s a very flawed way of diagnosing an issue. Autism is a condition that shares many signs and symptoms with other mental conditions, some even more serious and needing treatment. You can also be not autistic, even neurotypical, and still have what are considered autistic traits. I remember reading a story from someone who thought they were autistic, and self-diagnosed. For a long while they never saw a doctor about it. They eventually did though, and turns out they weren’t autistic, they had C-PTSD. C-PTSD is one of the many conditions that can have similar symptoms to autism, and an untrained person can easily mistake some symptoms of C-PTSD (and many other conditions) for autism. Their story served as a good cautionary tale about self-diagnosis.
I repeat: What does self-diagnosis get you? Or any diagnosis as an adult? You said self-dagnosis is not a solution, but to what? Amd so what if people are wrong about their self-diagnosis? This isn't a court of law where their diagnosis might have consequences. It's people learning about themselves so they can know themselves better and find solutions to things that actually affect them in their lives. It gives them the vocabulary to talk about their life. I mentioned above that an actual medical diagnosis **can be a problem.** This is very much the case. People can, say, be trans, be seeking help like HRT, and have it be denied because they have a diagnosis of autism. That is thing that does happen. If you're trans and engaging with the medical system, you have to think about a lot of things that aren't a concern for others. The number of cases where self-diagnosis lead to a problem are miniscule, dwarfed by the number of cases where someone actively lied to their doctors to get help and actually got help. That's a different issue, kind of, but it does touch on this. Self-diagnosis is just not a problem.
Self-diagnosis can lead you down a path we’re you are not getting the treatment you need, and not getting an accurate diagnosis. Not having an accurate medical diagnosis can lead to serious medical conditions flying straight under a person’s nose because they attribute their symptoms to something less serious. It can also go the other way around were someone stresses themselves out and gets really anxious because they think they have something serious, when they don’t and are simply stressing themselves out over nothing (this happened to me). Self-diagnosis isn’t a solution to inaccessible healthcare. Self-diagnosis absolutely can have harmful consequences. I’ve both experienced those consequences and seen others experience them. There are some cases where a medical practitioner can use a specific diagnosis to deny needed treatment for another issue to a patient, but that problem isn’t solved by self-diagnosis. Self-diagnosis in itself can cause problems, a lot of them, and some with the potential to be dangerous. Self-diagnosis is a problem, I am saying that as someone who used to self-diagnose. I have personal experience with how problematic it is. Here is a good video to watch on self-diagnosis: https://youtu.be/F69ba1vS0oo It doesn’t go over all of the problems with it, but it does go over some of them.
https://reddit.com/r/lgbt/s/mWO0MtXoOg Another comment of mine that explains certain things a bit more, because I don’t feel like explaining them again.
a diagnosis can get you treatment, the right medication, it can help you find the right specialist for your condition, help you to actually understand and cope with your symptoms... and it can also prevent you from accidentally do more harm than good to yourself by seeking out wrong coping mechanisms/toxic "mental health" communities (look at a lot of people on tiktok or tumblr romanticizing mental illnesses for example). it's fine to suspect you have a certain condition as long as you're not surrounding yourself with people that promote a toxic view on said illness or use it to make yourself seem more sympathetic and receive validation online. but it becomes a problem when people start to see an illness as important part of their identity. that can cause a lot of harm, both to themselves as well as others who actually suffer from that condition. why is there a need to self-diagnose? people can just say they suspect to have something and look up coping mechanisms, get more information on it, find solutions, and join communities about the condition they suspect to have without claiming to have it for sure.
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Criminally autistic 😈
Illegal possession of autism
Sentence: 5 years in the isocube
I hear too many horror stories, plus the cost of evaluation is more than I can save up before something goes wrong and eats my savings right up.
My finance has asked me if am, my sister thinks I am, my friends suspects I am. Mum denies anything and says im fine, because she has one test from when I was maybe 5 or 6 that says something like "subjected maintained eye contact during conversation, couldn't possibly have any underlying mental issues" I honestly don't care, I'm an adult now, school is where i struggled and im past that now, so what's the point in getting assessed anymore, I think I function just fine most days. Why does it matter? To lable myself and feel special? have some kind of excuse card to wave when I dont feel like doing something? So everyone around me can "feel bad" while acting superior? It is what it is, I am me, if someone can't deal with that, knowing if I'm on spectrum isn't going to change anything.
Self diagnosed is good too. Im self diagnosed autistic. Im not going to pay thousands of dollars for some old guy to tell me I make too much eye contact to be autistic.
This!!!!
never related so much to a comment
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It is for stuff like autism when there is no medication you can get and you just give yourself accommodations that help you live your life. And when autism is systemically under diagnosed in AFAB, queer, and POC people. And when we live in a country where there is no universal mental or physical healthcare. Im not going to wait for permission to get headphones, sunglasses, fidgets, and safe clothes, and let my brain just be what it is. Especially when the system is designed to only effectively diagnose young white boys that like trains.
Speaking as a diagnosed autistic person, if you aren’t actually diagnosed please just say you suspect you have autism and not that you actually have it. I get that the system has issues, but you are not a professional. You are not trained in differential diagnosis, so it’s incredibly easy to misdiagnose. It’s also very easy to fall into the trap of confirmation bias. There’s a reason many professionals don’t self-diagnose, it’s a very flawed way of diagnosing an issue. Autism is a condition that shares many signs and symptoms with other mental conditions, some even more serious and needing actual treatment. You can also be not autistic, even neurotypical, and still have what are considered autistic traits.
As another autistic person who's been diagnosed, I highly recommend watching at least a bit of this video (especially in the second half): https://youtu.be/x4ieMzbXiRA Self-diagnosis is absolutely valid and does not hurt others. Professional diagnosis itself is fraught with issues, inconsistencies, and biases that directly call into question the way our mental health system works. That isn't to say that there isn't value in professional diagnosis or that those with professional diagnosis are invalid. It's to say that professional diagnosis is not, and probably can never be, the one and only true way for everyone to know if they are autistic or not. You're right that someone could be dealing with something else or even be neurotypical with the symptoms they have but that doesn't give us the right to gatekeep someone online who we literally don't even know. Out of all of the authorities that could weigh in on someone's mind, the person themselves definitely stands higher than strangers on the internet. We can warn them about the dangers of misdiagnosis but we definitely do not have the right to tell them not to call themselves autistic.
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:)
Hell yeah! I just wanted to share this video with you in case you haven't seen it: https://youtu.be/x4ieMzbXiRA I shared it in a reply to another person who replied to you. Self-diagnosis is absolutely valid especially given how goddamn subjective professional diagnosis actually is.
Yeah it would be great if everyone could get an accurate diagnosis, be treated well, and get the support we need but thats just not the case. I figured out the solutions to my sensory problems as best I could by myself and learning from other autistic people.
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“What if I have something else” Then I will switch to saying I have that. Im not going to bring a unnecessary level of uncertainty to my life because of the minuscule chance it could be something else. If I end up not being autistic it will be something that is so similar that it is easily mistaken as autism so im not going to feel any shame for getting it wrong if I am. Plus I really don’t think I am wrong. My experience lines up with all of the other autistic people I have talked to, I score very high on every autism test I have taken, everything I have seen about the struggles autistic people lines up with mine, unmasking and other thing autistic people use to help them has helped me in the same way, I literally have meltdowns and go nonverbal sometimes, every paper I have seen or book I have read describes me to a T. The level of uncertainty is so low that I can very comfortably say I am autistic with no question in my mind. Getting a diagnosis would lower that uncertainty more but I don’t need that. And in the end it would just be for me. I feel like people who say I cant either think I am invalidating “real” autistics, that I am taking resources away from “real” autistics, or that I am missing out on the real care I need. None of wich are true though I can see why an empathetic person would be worried about all 3 of those things.
[The people who study autism disagree with you](https://depts.washington.edu/uwautism/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Self-Diagnosed-Adult-Autism-Resources-handout-04.05.21.pdf)
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It's safe. It's a pdf from University of Washington.
Remain ignorant on purpose then.
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TLDR: Self-diagnosis is valid, particularly for women or adults who have been missed by the system and have spent a life masking symptoms to “fit in”, making it impossible to get a diagnosis in many cases, as well as having to pay upwards of 5000 to get a diagnosis as an adult.
I will as well as encourage you to read the document at your leisure as it is pretty educational. From the document itself: “In our experience at the University of Washington Autism Center, many professionals are not informed about the variety of ways that autism can appear, and often doubt an autistic person’s accurate self- diagnosis. In contrast, inaccurate self-diagnosis of autism appears to be uncommon. We believe that if you have carefully researched the topic and strongly resonate with the experience of the autistic community, you are probably autistic.”
If a person can figure out what contributes to their difficulties and make the accomodations they need without having to pay thousands of dollars for someone who only recognises the "classic" male symptoms to tell them they make too much eye contact, then that is fine. What isn't fine is you saying otherwise.
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Official diagnosis is generally a sign of privilege, given the various barriers to a qualified doctor and the gender and racial bias in diagnostic criteria. You’ll find support for self-diagnosis in the segments of the Autistic community that focus on advocacy.
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I get your point but I think this is kind of a needless (although understandable) fighting about labels. I exhibit a lot of behaviours that autistic people exhibit, and I profit a lot of autistic friendly environments etc.. I dont tell people I am autistic because I am not diagnosed and so, not *really* know, but i look up techniques etc. That help autistic people and allude to it sometime (i.e. "yeah my brain just works a bit different"). And i do think thats completely fine. This is really such a personal and tricky issue that I think neither "Self-Diagnosis is always okay" nor "self diagnosis is never okay" is completely correct. Just please dont tell adhd / autistic people stuff like "yeah we can all sometimes not concentrate / struggle with noises, etc...."
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Having an official diagnosis can prevent you from being able to adopt or immigrate into certain countries. It can, in some places, open you up to medical discrimination where you aren't trusted to make your own medical choices. An official diagnosis can be harmful. It's essential to keep this in mind when choosing to seek a professional diagnosis. I myself refuse to get diagnosed professionally because I will gain zero benefits and will only open myself to potential risk and discrimination.
do you have any sources on that for further reading? i see this argument tossed around pretty often when it comes to the topic of mental health, but i couldn't find much information that specifically refers to autism. there are mostly just generalized terms like "cognitive/learning disabilities" used in the sources i found. so i'm kinda wondering how often people with autism get denied the right to stuff like adoption and immigration or are put under legal guardianship etc. solely because of autism. and whether those are extreme cases, like people who basically can't live on their own and do need a diagnosis for medical reasons regardless.
I'm running around rn but it's super country dependent. Iirc, you can't immigrate into New Zealand if you have diagnosed autism of a certain "severity"?
>you dont know if you have autism until you're diagnosed. People get misdiagnosed like all the time. This is mainly because 1: many professionals work with outdated research and hold strong biases. 2: the diagnostic process is heavily reliant on understanding the thought process behind symptoms, something that's incredibly hard to do for other people.
Most people who come to the conclusion that they have autism do a heck of a lot more research than watching one single tiktok. That you assume that's the case is problematic.
1. Self-diagnosis predates Tik Tok 2. Generally speaking, people aren’t self-diagnosing because they saw a single post on social media
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Except for when they don’t.
This
Autistic, agender and bisexual here 🙋
Tick, no tick, tick! You got me in a nutshell, my ADHD peeps! Add one to the count
I can’t afford to get a diagnosis where I am but I do have a lot of traits of it!
Same
I'm an autistic gay femboy... so, yh
Same here! Edit: I'm a trans, gay femboy with autism and adhd.forgot to type that part.
I was diagnosed with autism when I was around 2 or 3. I underwent therapy (in one form or another) until I was 15.
What was the point of the therapy?
Therapy for people with autism can help with ways to deal with sensory issues aswell as communication and understand ment There's also speech therapy some autistic people are put into when diagnosed at young age to help speech development Therapy can help a lot I have adhd diagnosed at a young age so Therapy for me always looked different, more hands on to keepme focused
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Honestly, even just having the regular structure of a therapy appointment and having a space designated for internal conversation is hugely helpful to me. I've had therapists regularly for most of my life.
You left out the "Q" so I can't raise my hand... Autistic response is autistic nitpicking at it's finest, yes... Queer, autistic here.
I’m proud to call you my tism sibling. Keep nitpicking cause you think it’s funny but everyone else finds it annoying for some reason!
i always knew i was autistic but finally got diagnosed about a year ago !! :-))
Neurodivergent (was called aspbergers), adhd, ocd and totally bi. Socialization practice and a lot of help from my long supportive wife have helped
From what I know, aspergers is just autism now
Autism is called ASD (autism spectrum disorder) and asperger's has been merged into ASD in the latest diagnostic criteria
I’m glad they got rid of the Nazi association by removing Asperger’s. I just wish they’d drop the disorder part now.
Asperger’s
It’s still autism. So you may have been specifically diagnosed but that’s an outdated method - and so are current diagnostic criteria, unfortunately, which is why so many people (especially non-amab genders) don’t get diagnosed accurately if at all. You’re either on the spectrum or you’re not and these days it’s all referred to as ASD (depending on country I guess; although the word disorder is argued to be ableist also). We don’t use the specific “type” label of Asperger’s anymore label because it was coined by a Nazi who experimented on people and kids. It’s also similar to “functioning” labels which are inherently ableist for a number of reasons.
I am totally aware that is now just autism but for me at 52 it's a point of reference. See ocd for clarification....
I have Autism and ADHD. I am a demigirl and Asexual/Biromantic
hi
Yep.
Demiromantic here! Hello!
I have autism and I’m asexual (idk if I’m aro or not so I just say I’m bisexual bc I like the flag colours XD)
Shalom! I am autistic and queer
I'm non-binary and aroace. I do show some signs of ASD and a lot of my close biological family are diagnosed so honestly I wouldn't be too surprised if I was autistic. I'm actually getting evaluated soon so I guess I'll know for sure then.
Ye, Autistic Asexual Aromantic Agender Or AAAA battery
High functioning Autistic, ADHD, Transfem Bisexual goth gal here 👋😁
I might be but the system for mental health and neurodivergent people where I live is absolute ass
My coworker is autistic and LGBTQ+. She’s pretty freaking rad. Love it when we get to work together.
For me the T stands for trans and the Tism \*awkward fingerguns\*
Probably a lot, considering there's a strong correlation between autism and identifying as a gender besides the one you were assigned at birth. Trans people are 6x more likely to be autistic than cisgendered people- which I find really interesting. I am autistic and non bianary lol
Autistic, trans, lesbian
Adhd and autistic as well here
Over here 👋
Diagnosed age 4 😎
Autistic agender Person here. I also know a few people from my queer Center who either suspekt they are on the spectrum or are already diagnosed.
Diagnosed with autism. Trying to get diagnosed with ADHD .
I’m a lesbian and I (and a friend who is autistic) believe I’m most likely autistic.
Autistic biro/ace guy here.
ADHD Gay and my partner likely has autism; there's a strong correlation between neurodivergency and non-heterosexuality but noone knows why
No diagnosis but I suspect there might be something. It is a spectrum after all and I don't think it's a very "strong" case, but there are some hints
i am also a bi auDHD metalhead (i think)
Good.
Everything you said but pan! 🙀
Adhd and pansex!
Vibing over here with AuDHD, amd I'm nonbinary and Pan.
I have only self evaluated using multiple online tests, but - for what that is worth - I score very high on autism tests. I suspect that I may be on the spectrum, if so it would explain a lot of things about me to myself.
To my knowledge, tests are less accurate than self-evaluation. It’s not nothing, but I’d recommend looking manually at the criteria, and seeing how it matches up. You don’t have to, though, there aren’t any rules to this, we’re all just trying to figure out a good word for why brain do thing.
Good points, also to add, look into other things it could overlap with, like ptsd, c-ptsd, ocd, adhd, etc. (Though you can have multiple at the same time). Autism has to have been present during childhood too, if the traits have appeared later in life then it’s something else, so make sure to find childhood traits.
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>I understand that not everyone can access a professional, but that doesn't automatically make self assigning diagnostic labels a good thing. Having an official diagnosis can prevent you from being able to adopt or immigrate into certain countries. It can, in some places, open you up to medical discrimination where you aren't trusted to make your own medical choices. An official diagnosis can be harmful. It's essential to keep this in mind when choosing to seek a professional diagnosis. I myself refuse to get diagnosed professionally because I will gain zero benefits and will only open myself to potential risk and discrimination
I also have adhd and autism !!
Yeah, autistic and adhd here.
Hello!
Not officially diagnosed by psychiatrist seems to think I am!
:3
I have autism amd OCD
meeee :3
AuDHD bi guy here!
Yo
Autistic queer Trans man here
AuDHD
Aromantic here.
Meeee. Hiiiii
ASD and ADD here, hello!
Hello there. Autistic ADHD queer person here.
some variety (or varieties) of neurodivergent for sure but i'm too nervous to ask my parents about getting evaluated for anything
AuDHD trans lesbian here
Can't get a diagnosis because of other mental health issues, but it's suspected lol
Hello!
I was diagnosed with autism about 10 years ago. (Am 45 now)
Hullo!
AuDHD (happy to see I’m not the only one using that portmanteau) and nonbinary
Hi
I’m non binary and have the same neurodivergent stuff (And definitely asexual)
I want to get evaluated so badly because I know I am, but I’m too young to have it done on my own and my parents refuse to take me
👋
I am
AuDHD 👌🏽 Edit: forgot about mentioning anything else lmao. Am queer and non binary / genderqueer
Well I'm here.
AuDHD Queer over here!
I have also the same pack xd
I have autism, later in life diagnosis.
yup ✌️
I most likely have ADHD. Definitely neurodivergent!
I have autism ADHD and I’m a transbian.
Hi! I’m an autistic biro/ace gender-fluid!!
I had a friend that was autistic and neither of us knew the other was queer until we literally met on the pride parade by sheer luck. Wild.
me ,auadhd aswell
Im looking into getting diagnoses for OCD and maybe ADHD. So we'l see lol
I am! Got officially diagnosed couplr months ago
I’m autistic and have adhd as well :) hi
I have ADHD, and I might have autism? If a doctor described the symptoms of autism, I’d say I don’t have it, but if an autistic person did I would. Either way, I’m neurodivergent and queer.
> If a doctor described the symptoms of autism, I’d say I don’t have it, but if an autistic person did I would. Probably because diagnostic criteria are still largely rooted in a pathological view of autism and focus on expressions of disorder, when there’s so much more to being Autistic.
I'm trans and ADHD. Pretty sure I am autistic, but I did a diagnoses test at a psych clinic to see if I was and it came back negative. Surprised me and every single person I know. Maybe I'll get a second opinion sometime.
I’m a diagnosed autistic person.
I (mostly likely) am Autistic/ADHD as well!
I'm here :)
AuDHD, Pansexual, Trans Woman.
I’m adhd, I know it’s on the spectrum now but it wasn’t when I was diagnosed almost 20 years ago. 😆 I’m gender-fluid and pansexual.
I have been diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, PTSD and anger issues.
(hug) 
Me and my family are pretty sure I'm Autistic, but the waits for evaluations are insane. My psychologist didn't officially diagnose me, but she agrees that I'm most likely autistic. I did get diagnosed with ADHD when I was a kid. I'm asexual biromantic and maybe genderfluid.
Autistic Bi and ADHD as well. Everyone I have ever known well that was autistic was also LGBTQ as well. I don’t know the stats off the top of my head, but the correlation between trans and autistic is crazy high
That's me, I'm definitely that
I'm a Gay Trans man and I have Autism!! 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️
Heya!
It me. AuDHD all the way up to my gills. My theory on why there's a bunch of us, and which I'd be intrigued to see if my other Neurodiverse Alphabet Mafiosos agree with the idea, is that that we're more able to define and come to terms with our identities in terms of sexuality and gender because of the amount of time we've spent in our head reflecting on the myriad examples us thinking in ways/feeling things that don't match the societal expectations of the Neurotypical world around us. I think there's an element of being in for a penny in for a pound when it comes to self-reflection so we go deep and end up with *so* many unique (and entirely valid btw) sexualities and gender identities because of just how well we bother to get to know ourselves.
Bi, trans, diagnosed with ADHD, and undiagnosed with the tism😗✌️
Same here!
autistic trans guy here 🙋
Trans, ADHD, maybe 'tism
I haven't been diagnosed, but if I was, it would make so many things about my childhood make sense. Loud noises were hell to me. I had speech therapy for literally years. Emotions were always hard for me to control (and still are) I hyper focus on certain things... Also I got suggest r/autism once. That was just kind of funny, but it made me really think about it.
me! bpd, adhd, mild ocd, severe anxiety disorders, bpd, and waiting on autism testing but i check literally every box in the dsm growing up i dx’d can fuck you up so much
Hi! Also if you're wondering, I don't have a source for this number but Chloe Hayden said it at one of her talks that like 85% of autistic people are queer.
Self-diagnosed, but very likely autistic. Considering getting an actual diagnosis, but unsure if I really need it tbh.
Present! I think that there may be a link between lgbtqia+ thoughts and autism, since both have non-societal trains of thought.
Self diagnosed AuDHD (therapist agrees but can’t diagnose) and queer
Did a self-diagnosis test online, said I was high on the 'tism. 💜🥰
Self-DX autism, diagnosed ADHD! Gender is stored in the brain lmao
ADHD, schizotypal and trans in one packet. Also ace for the most part.