I’ve been internet-diagnosed with autism plenty of times, but the one time I went to get evaluated, they said I didn’t have “it.”
But if it’s a spectrum with different combinations of different traits at different levels of intensity, maybe a diagnosis is irrelevant and what matters is what your constellation of traits actually is, regardless of an official diagnosis (which, let’s face it, is probably highly subjective outside of some constellations–that is to say, with a long enough list of psychologits, I could probably get a dx).
Personally, for me, what this means is I can look to autistic literature to see what resonates with me without worrying about the fact that I don’t share many of the hard markers for autism. For instance, my investment in the truth often conflicts with social niceties even though I can read people’s emotions. I can see myself as an unofficially atypical person in a lot of ways.
I’ll leave my resonsances in the comments below. Feel free to share yours.
As someone in a developing world, where access to mental professional is virtually impossible, due to cost, availability, competency of doctors( lots of doctors here are down right malicious), and safety, I know that in truth, the majority of the people in the world, both developing and developed, dont have access to an official diagnoses.
Techinally I am now diagnosed with ADHD(though not autism) but amphetamines, the most effective drug for ADHD, is banned in my country. So even a diagnoses doesn’t guaranty you support, depending on where you are in the world.
I hate the conversation about self-diagnoses because there isn’t that acknowledgement. Most of the world has access to the internet, in some form. People are gonna use labels that resonant with them. I am even luckier than most, I self-diagnosed myself 5 years before my official diagnoses, because I only now have the money and resources to do so. Most self-diagnosed people want to seek professional help and get actual accommodations, bit there is no acknowledgement that is a privilege.
Just like being poor is a sin, being self-diagnoses is its own sin.
My diagnosis cost $3,600 in Canada where we apparently have universal health care because I couldn’t wait any longer. There was a wait list for that too, but just a few months.
I had been on a waiting list for a psychiatrist to who may or may not have been able to diagnose, we hadn’t even gotten that far in terms of discussion. I didn’t hear for a year so I called the clinic to ask and I got told that the doctor had left that clinic and gone to another so I was not in any waiting list and could expect another 16 months before anyone could see me. They said they told my GP’s office but my GP says he had nothing on file so if I hadn’t called I would never have known.
This is not to diminish your experiences, but to share how my individual privilege was used above the privilege I have living where I do.