Is self-diagnosis good or bad?

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When it comes to this topic, I’m in the middle. I think self-diagnosis can be good, as it helps people who genuinely have autism and don’t have the resources to be diagnosed. However, I am not a fan of people do self-diagnose because they think autism is cool or they use it as slang to insult themselves.

Mixed bag. It exists for legitimate reasons, mostly due to living in imperfect world where formal diagnosis is often inaccessible.

To me, considering the capitalist hellscape many of us find ourselves in, any "leg up" that one can get on their individual mental health "status", the better. You, after all, are the best authority on what's going on in your own head.

Its better than nothing.

If you have good reason to think that you're on the spectrum then thinking of yourself as being on the spectrum can have the same good effect that a real diagnosis has of...explaining stuff in your life. Making it understandable. Throwing paint upon the invisible creature.

But if you can its better to get the real diagnosis. Makes it more certain. And when its official than you can get whatever benifits and social services are available to the disabled.

Self-diagnosis is both ineffective and irrelevant, unless confirmed by an appropriately-trained and licensed mental-health professional.  I voted "Neither".

Its better than nothing.

If youve read up on the symptoms and think that the shoe fits than wearing that self made shoe can have some of the same benifits of the real diagnosis in that it explains things, and makes it understandable to yourself.

But if you can you should get the real diagnosis by a real doctor giving you the battery of tests.

Not only would that make it solid in your mind, but then it makes it "official" so then you can get whatever disability benefits and social services that might be available.

Self-diagnosis after very thorough research is a good workaround when competent and affordable diagnosis is not available as is still too often the case.

Some other things to consider.

Are your autistic traits impairing your life, are they manageable?

Even if things are manageable now things can and do go south. It might be better to get a diagnosis now and not start the process when you are mentally fragile and are financially worse off due to said crises.

Are you the type of person who needs an expert to validate your suspicions, can you move on with your life without that confirmation?

One option is what I call an "unofficial diagnosis". A professional says you are Autistic but does not put it in your records. A solution for those worried about somebody hacking into their medical records. It should also be cheaper as the clinician does not have to write up a diagnostic report. But you will not get benefits and accommodations.

If you mean good or bad for the purpose of getting the right answer, I guess it depends on the person attempting the diagnosis. Certainly the professionals have been known to get it wrong and amateurs have been known to get it right. I'd hope that a properly-trained diagnostician would be more likely to get it right than a lay person, but it won't always work out that way.

If you mean good or bad for the purpose of getting job accommodations, benefits etc., an amateur diagnosis won't work.

I do think we overall know ourselves and our health conditions better than anyone else. And it's easy for professionals to misdiagnose due to not being in our heads like we are.

That said.

We autistic people tend to really suck at self evaluation.

edit:
It is worth mentioning that some prefer not to be formally diagnosed due to things like infantilization, not being able to immigrate, being potentially barred from gender transition, etc

It's probably good for an undiagnosed person with obvious autism symptoms, but some people will inevitably allow their biases to interfere with objectivity.

If the symptoms are pervasive enough that you're struggling with them, it's probably best to get a diagnosis. If you're getting along fine without a diagnosis, you probably don't particularly need one.