Any other groups that are more accepting of self-diagnosis?

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I think that people should communicate on wp in a way that feels natural to them.

I have already expressed how I intended it and in no way shape or form am going to argue over it. You are free to draw your own conclusions. I realize you are sensitive to the subject and probably have had many people treat you poorly for it so I can understand your need to defend your stance.

Well, I still think it's important to raise awareness on the general topic. There are many behavioral tendencies that are innate, and there are a lot of things that seem positive but come with trade-offs. For instance, a lot of people with hyperlexia have difficulty with sensory integration and verbal communication, like I always have. It's easy to mistake these behaviors as attempts to dazzle others or to "look smart" or something like that. No. I'm not here at this end holding the belief that this makes me somehow intellectually or morally superior to others. I'm intellectually superior to others for completely unrelated reasons *wink-wink*. I am perfectly aware that many people who never develop strong verbal skills--or just prefer, as a matter of personal comfort, operating with a more condensed vocabulary and pithier language--may have highly advanced development in other areas, or they might even have a highly developed mastery of certain uses of language. In the end, there is no other way of handling it than to just try to learn a tolerance for people's individual differences.

I think so too. This should be one place where people don't have to worry so much about how they communicate and the assumption should be to not take offense. And really, taking offense is pretty tiring.

I've been on the receiving end of something I said taken offensively here and it made me feel awful. What I said wasn't meant to be offensive in anyway and yet somehow it was.

Spot on post.

It's easy to talk about "support", but support is just a word. There's a homeless guy on WP at the moment - hardly anyone replies to his posts. WP's support forum - The Haven - is half dead. The people who talk the most about support often seem to be the least likely to dole it out.

There are, of course, many exceptions. I have a friend who took in a homeless teenage girl a couple of years; the girl, not surprisingly, is troubled and needs a lot of support. I think my friend is amazing for doing that.

If "support" is a synonym for talking at length about your personal experiences, then be my guest: I have absolutely no problems with that.

I absolutely agree with BTBNNYR.

People should communicate in a manner in which they feel comfortable--most definitely.

I agree with btbnnyr too, but what happens when you feel most comfortable being a smartarse? <_<

There are many ways to be a smartarse without offending people. There's even a "nice" way to be a smartarse. It involves showing wisdom, while not attacking people directly. When this is successful, it's called "being witty," rather than "smartarsey."

You could mix your "smartarsery" with some of your funny stories, too.

You could also be truthful when you feel for a person. I happen to believe that you "feel" more than you believe you do.

LOL...I could be wrong about that--and you'll tell me in no uncertain terms But the impression will remain, despite you telling me off.

And perhaps some of your life story, too, even the painful bits. I believe it's cathartic to relate what pain you've experienced in life. It's certainly better than keeping it bottled up.

I enjoy reading smartarse comments.

I'm not really into smartarse just for the sake of being smartarse.

I'm more the type that's into smartarse when it's called for.

I don't understand what's wrong with expressing personal opinion in a thread titled: 'Critical of self diagnsois - you shouldn't be'

The thread was practically inviting discussion. Would it really be better to create another thread dedicated to criticism of self-diagnosis?

It isn't hard to realize that some may take offense (as AspieUtah explains) but that shouldn't prevent discussion from taking place. My point here has been warped, in that it was the polarization of this issue is not so black and white as everyone seemed to have thought. Those critical of self-diagnosis were being depicted as evil and those supporting it as caring and just. There was no maliciousness involved from what I saw, and so far people seem to have agreed with that.

It's also impossible for me to figure out what's wrong with what I post if I won't be told. All the times I have posted a point similar to the one you replied to nobody has responded. The closest was that you picked apart my post by heavily emphasizing my use of phrases/terms, (i.e. 'even the administrator', 'artificial') which is why I believed you were angry. I am sorry if that was a wrong assumption but I don't see where I have made the other 'lot of wrong assumptions'. To me that statement holds no value and stagnates any progress because generally in an argument, until there is a mutual understanding, what the other(s) claim seems to be incorrect, hence why I feel ignored as I am yet to receive any reply to my posts explaining why they are wrong, and instead remain baffled by all the insults etc. directed towards criticism of self-diagnosis (not this thread in particular).

In a way all this reminds me of when I was younger, and my sister would punch me and throw objects at me, and as soon as I did anything to her she would cry, and because she cried I was the one who was punished. Though in this case, I am not the only one involved (those critical of self-diagnosis have been). The issue is also far more complicated, only the feeling is relevant.

This is my last major post on this subject because it doesn't get me anywhere.

Generally, I don't consider criticism to be a bad thing.
I don't consider criticism of self-diagnosis any different than criticism of official diagnosis or criticism of autism research or criticism of some other process.
If people feel that criticism of self-diagnosis invalidates their personal identity, then it seems that criticism of official diagnosis might invalidate other people's personal identity, and criticism of some other process could invalidate some other people's personal identity.
But people criticize official diagnosis, autism research, and other processes often, so I don't see why self-diagnosis should be eggseption.

I wanted to criticize your post but then I got worried it would invalidate my personal identity.

Who criticizes autism research? I've never seen criticism of that nature.

Autism research is a win-win type of proposition.

Do you mean your personal identity or my personal identity?
I suppose that both could be invalidated if you criticize my post.

Science research should be criticized without it invalidating anyone's personal identity.