Is self-diagnosis okay/valid/a good thing?

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In reference to the "working" definition of diagnosis, one should note that people who "self-diagnose" do so under this definition, per the Oxford English Dictionary:

"The identification of the nature of an illness or other problem by examination of the symptoms."

"Self-diagnosers" do not claim that their "examination" is done in a medical manner; therefore, "Self-diagnosers" do not claim that their diagnosis has a specifically medical basis. I would assume that clinicians specializing in autism do not believe their diagnoses are purely medical in nature, either.

I believe many recent posters have presented a nice, sweeping view of the pitfalls of diagnosis, as well as assumptions which clinicians and the "general public" operate under.

A clinician might be able to claim a more objective position because they don't have a "vested interested" either in being diagnosed or not being diagnosed with a disorder. However, there are some clinicians who have a personal bias as to how THEY perceive conditions such as autism.

The official diagnosis, all in all, IMHO, remains more definitive, in general, than a "self-diagnosis." However, it is most definite that the results reaped by "self-diagnosers" pertaining to their own condition should not be dismissed outright.

In my opinion, ASD the medical diagnosis and medical label can't be applied in a self-diagnosis, it doesn't make sense. BAP can be applied in a self-identification, while ASD can be applied in a medical diagnosis.

I would say BAP or emphasize that I strongly suspect to avoid misrepresentation, to make sure they understand that they shouldn't take anything I say or believe as "true", "common", etc. to people on the spectrum. Someone shouldn't generalize this way anyway because everyone is different. If I talk to people about this, I try to make sure they know that I suspect and the reasons that I think so and also the reasons why I doubt I have it. But one thing I know, is that I have TRAITS. I used to think I was a good judge of my social abilities but my husband tells me otherwise. Stuff like how I actually looked and how I thought I was doing okay when I actually wasn't so I am not a good judge of how I am socially. So I think that thinking I am BAP is perfectly sane and really can't be denied. But I don't trust myself to understand all the time how I come across to people or how I might actually look or appear because I can think I looked relaxed and friendly and open and my husband will tell me I looked the opposite.

I don't think anyone seriously suspects or seriously believes they are autistic without a lot of reasons. I don't see anything glamorous, luxurious, "faddish", or "cool" about having whatever this is I have. It is isolating, painful, confusing, frustrating, and depressing. It was agonizing when I was younger and still can be now. It is something I am constantly fighting and constantly being hampered by. But at the same time, I realize it is who I am and I have to live with it and for the first time I no longer feel helpless and confused and I can DO something now and I can acknowledge my limits as actually valid and can respect them. I saw my therapist the other day. She said I am vastly different from the person she first saw and that I am better about myself now and I know I am and it makes me happy.

You are missing the scenerios:

Scenario I: person self-diagnoses. Person seeks diagnosis. Person is given a diagnosis of something else instead (with reason of why it's a better match than autism.)

Scenario J: person self-diagnoses. Person continues to live like this for a while (even years). Eventually, person realizes that the symptoms that person had attributed to autism are symptoms of a disorder, probably psychiatric, that person had already been diagnosed with and in treatment for.

Scenario J*: wanting to self diagnose itself was a symptom.

I have met someone who has been in scenario J*, anxiety with anxiety about cause of it leading to denial of cause of symptoms (and enough mimicking of symptoms for it to work). Rare case but should be complete and Scenario I needs to be included specifically instead of just with "don't have autism"