Self diagnosis is not my personal choice

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I've just seen too many self-diagnosed autistic people get official diagnoses later, including myself, to dismiss it out of hand. It is not as if I was not autistic from December 2010 until April 2011, and then became autistic when I was diagnosed. I was autistic the whole time, and autistic before I knew I was autistic.

The first psychologist with whom I worked also did not diagnose ASD. He/she was a generalist. I then did some research and learned that most therapists only learn the basics of ASD. Without a fair amount of direct experience working with people having ASD, they often know only of the most stereotypical symptoms. An internet search found an ASD-specialist in my area who was qualified to make a expert diagnosis.