Two questions

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Beautifully said Callista, couldn't have put it better myself.

I don't think you've read my posts. I'm okay with people enquiring and seeking support - page 1. But I am critical of self-diagnosis, at times. Because I've read far too many threads, and even people recently diagnosed, that mention they display hardly any of the symptomatology. Or they mention things that don't really have anything to do with being on the spectrum. I can understand and respect ignorance, but it seems to be the same mistakes over and over again. I think there are people out there who think autism is being shy with a few personality traits.

So I point out that many do wrongly self-diagnose, and this is often considered controversial or rude. And it does cause upset. There's no denying that self-diagnosed posters are quite "active" on here, and often react too sensitively.



Can you give me an example where I said I support Autism Speaks? Not a fan - OP. But it's one example of a pervasive narrative. And we don't speak collectively for LFA, or anyone with autism. Many of us disagree, and have our own opinions. I don't view a cure as a bad thing at all. Because autism causes a lot of grief. And not just because of intolerance from others.

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I think of it this way. I self diagnosed with borderline personality disorder before. It was heavily implied I had it, but I was never formally diagnosed. All of the BPD people always accepted me. It was in their view that if you think you have this horrible illness, you should try to identify it and get help.

I have self diagnosed with OCD before and I do indeed think I have it. I was formally diagnosed with this.

This along with PTSD, Bipolar, so on. But I was eventually formally diagnosed with those, too. On every single forum that I was on, not one person felt insulted that I felt like I had Bipolar or anything else. Why? Because I took it seriously and they could see my distress and my obvious symptoms.

The people on here who self-diagnose seem to do so because they are in distress. A lot of us can't get a formal diagnosis for various reasons (often financial). I say if the traits fit, and you get along with other aspies, it may be extremely helpful to self diagnose and attempt to "self help". Self diagnosis is often a vehicle for formal diagnosis, anyways. For those of us that have been misdiagnosed and are on the spectrum, it can be helpful to self diagnose (if you've done enough research). I was told time and time again I was not autistic, and yet I knew I was. I just had suspicions at first. It took me a year to actually dissect my thoughts and determine my objective problems. I then went and had the testing done.

I personally did not self diagnose until right before my test. Up until then, I made absolutely sure that I had the traits and was being as objective as possible. I find many others here are the exact same way as me. If I didn't find the non-profit center who diagnose me, I would not be diagnosed even though I am autistic as it would have been too expensive.

It's important to remember that if you have access to crappy mental health care, you probably will be misdiagnosed. Unless you have fictitious disorder, I believe a lot of people on here don't just impulsively make a diagnosis. They go through logical steps and really understand themselves before even attempting it. A lot of mental health professionals insisted I was wrong about myself and told me to stop trying to self diagnose, even though I was way more correct than they would ever be. This is because I listened to myself and didn't jump to conclusions.