To those who take issue with self-diagnosis

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I'll reply to various posts in this thread later. For now I'll just clarify that I am on the waiting list for a diagnosis, despite my many doubts about the diagnostic procedure. Briefly my main doubts are:

1) I question whether, and how, the psychological testing component can possibly be appropriate for people my age, especially for those (like me) with highly unusual adult social development trajectories.

2) Again due to my age, not much info is available about my childhood beyond my own memories.

3) Although I will try to keep an open mind about this, I strongly doubt that there are any therapies that would be helpful to me (or, at least, helpful enough to be worth the time and energy I would have to put into them), both due to my age and due to what seems to me to be the generally still-primitive, still very unsettled state of autism science and therapeutic practice (based on what I've read about it over the past year).

I've discussed these issues in more detail here, in the separate thread Diagnose or not?.

I'll respond on other issues later.

I've no issue with adults choosing to self diagnose. Depending on the country, its only those with spare cash that can afford the fees needed for an experienced adult ASD diagnostician.

Supports available for adults varies greatly and in countries with a private healthcare mentality a self diagnosis can generally, get an adult access to the same suitable supports as a diagnosed adult.
I see official diagnosis as a one off insurance policy, purchase it if you have the means.

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Considering the low full time employment rates for adults with ASD, I think in countries where means dictates the persons choice we should be practical on this site in our response to these people.

Thanks very much. I'm on the waiting list to be diagnosed by a grad student, who is working under a psychologist who is said to be a leading autism expert. Being diagnosed by a grad student is much cheaper than being diagnosed by a fully qualified psychologist, but this is yet another reason for me to have doubts about my upcoming diagnostic session(s). I could not afford the fees to be diagnosed by the leading expert herself, or by any fully qualified psychologist.

Hey Amity!

Long Time No See!

I dont see a problem with people not trying to socialize in the "normal" way. I feel like I am free to live and socialize in an autistic way, even if no one understands me. I am not saying I am Jesus, but remember that Jesus was/is misunderstood. I don't have to look people in the eye and I will ramble/talk about my "special interests" like gymnastics and Smallville/Superman and baking. I am obsessive about certain things.

I am self diagnosed but I do someday want to see if a professional neurologist or psychiatrist agrees.

I am neuro-divergent and I see an issue with people saying there is a need to try to socialize and trying to get along with people. Sometimes I just shut down and stare into space and spend a lot of time isolated listening to one song over and over again. I don't always need people but I do enjoy conversing with other neourodiverse people, not just people with ASD but also bipolar, schizophrenic, OCD, ADHD, whatever yall have. People who know what it is like to stand out and be different. You dont need an excuse to be different. Live boldly.

[color=#00b2ff] I said this in another thread about self-diagnosis, But I believe self-diagnosis is just a step towards diagnosis nothing more nothing less. And ofc it's not valid. I mean i can self-diagnose myself with cancer doesn't mean i have cancer

I wouldn't agree with the "nothing more, nothing less" part.
Why anyone needs any diagnosis at all?
I believe, the answer is: to get a suitable treatment.
But what if there is no suitable treatment for you available?

There is also a bit of fluidity in a term "official diagnosis". I didn't self-diagnose per se, my therapist brought the topic when I explained to her my struggles with "obviousness" claimed by people to things I couldn't even notice. She said "Maybe the keyword Asperger's Syndrome would help you". I thought it over and over and yes, it finally gave me the key that fitted the lock of interpreting my weirdness.
But I didn't follow to official assessment. There are no services for adult AS females here that I couldn't get without an official diagnosis. The official diagnosis is mainly focused on granting disability status (thus, often denied) but I don't need it, either. Yes, I often struggle, but not any more than a random NT who didn't make wise life decisions.

So, althought AS in my case is an idea that came from a professional, when I get only two options to check: self-diagnosed or officially diagnosed, I check the former. And I don't pursue the "next step" because it wouldn't give me anything I need.

Well part of it is that You also can get other benefits and It'll help clear out doubt (for the most part) Although, If you don't want any of those services and are already well off the only benefit may be that you might be able to get some sort of work place accomidation. I can't really think of a good example, Mainly cause i have no experience but. There are still some advantages. Now if none of that interests you and you don't need extra confidence you don't really need to get diagnosed but some people might question the validity of you thinking you have autism.

You're welcome
The confirmation part has been useful for me. I think the options available for adults are limited, but I'd go with the grad student if that's what worked for me.

Hi Kraftie!

My workplace is aspie-friendly the way it is, my boss has obvious Asperger's syndrome himself As for those who doubt if I'm autistic - some doubt is healthy. You can also doubt an official diagnosis. I've had an official diagnosis of schizophrenia that turned out to be all wrong
Maybe some day some researchers invent a fullproof laboratory test for autism not based on superficial symptoms and interpretations. I will be very much interested.

There have been plenty of posts about official diagnosis being doubted here on WP. Self-diagnosis is more likely to be doubted.

Thing is you got to make decisions on what's best for you. Your purpose here on earth is not solely to please others.

It is not the issue of "self-diagnosis" that is objectionable. It is the motivation behind diagnosing oneself that is often repugnant.

OP, what was the original thread?

How so?

Honestly, I can't imagine the Average Joe Neurotypical wanting to diagnose themselves as Autistic. Most of them don't really even know how broad a spectrum it is.

If someone is deaf they are deaf whether or not they are diagnosed as deaf. Just an example.

I think a lot of you lack a lot of empathy towards autistic people without a diagnosis. I realized I were autistic when I was 16, almost three years ago, but haven't got a diagnosis until a month and a half ago. You can't imagine how invalid and unsure I've felt during these years, how many times I've told myself "you're just making this up as an excuse for being such a failure of a human being" or other not particularly nice things regarding that. Part of that has stayed with me even now, after getting an official confirmation, and sometimes I start to doubt myself and the validity of my autism all over again (it doesn't help that the therapist I'm seeing now told me last week that she doesn't really believe I'm on the spectrum because I told her I'm very empathic... yeah, maybe I should find a new one...).

And still it was better than having no explanation for all the things that made me so different and weird and unable to fit in and do things "the proper way" and succed academically. I don't know how I'd have survived this last three years, which have been the roughest of my life, if I hadn't stumbled upon the label "Asperger's" and figured out that that was the deal with me. I think I'd probably had killed myself, completely convinced there must have been something utterly and disgustingly wrong with me (which was the way I felt about myself for most of my teenage years). When I were 17 I wasn't too far from doing it (I certainly self-harmed a lot around that age), even knowing that I were autistic and that none of the s**t I was dealing with was my fault (it was rather society's fault) and that there was absolutely nothing wrong about the way I was. So I really think realizing I were autistic, years before an official confirmation from a mental health professional, saved my life, or at least saved me from failing deeper into a very unhealthy spiral of self-loathing and shame that would have done me great, long-lasting harm (as I've said, it could have potentially killed me).

So if someone tells me they are autistic, no matter if they don't have a diagnosis, I'll believe them. Because if there's a chance they are in the situation I was, I want to help them, not make them self-doubt even more. Because I remember how unsure and ashamed I felt, how invalid, because I still have felt like that this last month and a half a lot and I don't know if it will ever go away after questioning the validity of my autism for so long. Because I know that knowing that about themself is probably the only thing that gets that person through the day or that stops them from hating themself or thinking they are disgusting. Because I remember how I just wanted to crawl into a hole and never come out again whenever I told someone I were autistic and they didn't believe me (probably because of that I still haven't told almost anyone that I'm autistic even now having a diagnosis). Because I know how difficult it is to navigate life being a non-diagnosed autistic person.