Why Do People Hate Self-Diagnosers?

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I am not comfortable self-diagnosing so have the "not sure whether I have it or not" option selected on my profile. Although I relate very strongly to the autism spectrum as I understand it, I think that a substantial amount of training, experience and an 'outsider' viewpoint are necessary for diagnosis.

I have different levels of comfort with different self-diagnoses. Where someone has significant difficulties with communication, interaction and obsessions, for example, and finds autism gives them a narrative for the first time to coherently explain what they are struggling with, I can understand why they might choose to self-diagnose. However, there do seem to be people in the world who choose self-diagnosis over professional diagnosis "because their autism isn't causing them any great problems" (or words to this effect) and I can't help questioning whether those people really have autism if it is having so little impact on their functioning.

That said, professionals can also make mistakes. I would struggle to accept a diagnosis of autism (or confirmation of its absence) from someone unless they had significant experience of diagnosing adults and could provide a clear rationale for their decision.

Thank you.

Just another american selfer.
I don't have money to go to the doctor for anything. Since this site is full of people who have communication issues, I don't take offense if someone seems to be insulting selfers. And really, even if they are deliberately being spiteful, why would I worry about it?
But I don't suspect spite.
I also think that NT people sometimes selfdiagnosis in a casual way, like how people say they're OCD. Again, they are being casual. They say they have asd, but what they mean is they are a little scatterbrained. Don't take their words at face value, especially not in a hurt way. That's just reinforcing the stereotype. Peace, just another anecdote.

I knew a burned out Engineer who worked in Silicon Valley around 1979. He was a ham operator and was quite proud of getting one of the very first digital multimeter kits. He was working as a hotel clerk out in the middle of nowhere--total population within a 100 mile radius of perhaps 20,000 people--not a single traffic light!

He somehow knew I'd be an engineer and gave me fair warning--some advice about folks would get laid off.

I feel the need to clarify something from my previous post. I did not mean to imply that autistic people are not capable of success in any endeavour. I do not believe that. However, I do think the construct of what autism is, its "symptoms" for want of a better word, require there to be some difficulties in certain areas; so if there really aren't any difficulties at all it seems more likely to me that someone has some traits in common rather than being on the spectrum. It sounds similar to an asymptomatic, undiagnosed person claiming to have cancer - not impossible but highly unlikely.

I am certainly not going to deny anyone's personal experience. If you say you had a period where you experienced no problems at all I have to take that at face value as being an exception to the rule. However one has to wonder why people more generally would seek a medical explanation for something that is not causing some degree of difficulty in their lives.

My own personal experience and that of the neuro diverse people I know in real life is that our differences have caused us substantial difficulties (although we have also achieved some successes) and it is these that have motivated us to seek explanations and treatment.

I think a lot of people need the autism label for emotional or identity purposes.
Otherwise, saying that one has autistic traits would be a recognition of one's traits in an autism context too.
For some people, the label seems to require a lot of upkeep in terms of fitting themselves to autistic traits and continuing to do so to reinforce what they believe about themselves to themselves and others.

I think you can be highly autistic and have minimal issues if you are lucky enough to find a job that matches your special interests and talents--and do you job well enough that your employer will overlook any social issues that you may have. Getting paid a lot can make it relatively easy to avoid situations that would cause meltdowns for the less fortunate. I wouldn't have known, except for a spouse who wanted to know why is was different--and she had a background that allowed her to easily rule out the common psychological disorders that were her specialty.

One of the main reasons for many Americans self-diagnosing appears to be the considerable cost of getting a formal diagnosis in the USA. Not everyone can afford this, so I think we should be careful not to condemn them for not taking the clinical route. And as other people here have said, they are on a journey of self-discovery, as we all are. For some, part of this journey involves talking publicly about what they believe is their autism.

In the UK we have the luxury of being able to get a free diagnosis through the NHS. It's not always as accurate as it should be, but you can get a second opinion, also at no personal cost. So I have never 'self-diagnosed', I have simply wondered to myself. My GP felt that I had enough 'autistic traits' (whatever they are) to warrant a formal diagnosis, which will probably turn out to be BAP.

Not everyone is fortunate enough to have free access to a clinical psychologist.