Does the community approve of self-diagnosis?

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I am Korean and diagnosed with autism. But I was shocked to read an American book.

(Devon Price, Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity, 2022)

Does the adult autism community in the United States recognize self-diagnosis?

and Does that include people who have been diagnosed by an expert as not having autism?

Isn't self-diagnosis pseudoscience?

I was shocked that Devon Price's book was so popular.

Diagnoses are needed for things like state-sponsored support or official medical documentation.
Communities are for sharing experiences.
We consider it different areas.
This particular community does not require official diagnoses, only respect for autistic experiences all over the world.

Yes, this community approves of those who are self-diagnosed although it was more of a problem in the past. Many of us with autism diagnoses were diagnosed later in life. It doesn’t mean that we didn’t have autism before that. Getting evaluated can be expensive and isn’t accessible to everyone.

Depends which community.

The states themselves? No.
Medical community? No.
Local community? Learn their culture first, I guess? But majority may say likely no.

Autism community? Depends which.
Autistic community? May vary, but recently more likely than not; yes.

Support groups? Depends on their rules and dynamics; learn their culture.
Media? Well, again that depends and just as relative.


Here?
We do not mind apparently.


As magz say; it's a different matter.

There's your medical diagnosis status and how it is legally handled, and then there's your society's and your own attitude and the experiences with or without the diagnosis.

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A lot of people can't afford to pursue formal diagnosis, if they don't believe they have much need for support it might not be a justified cost.

Until everyone who needs evaluation can receive it regardless of their finances it's hard to act like self-diagnosis can't be valid.

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The research around the accuracy of Autism self-diagnosis is around 80% from what I understand. It shouldn't be too much of a surprise when you think about it; people diagnose themselves with mental health conditions frequently and accurately without it being questioned: anxiety, depression, OCD, addictions, PTSD, the list goes on.

There's an option when joining this site. Something like "I have Autism - Diagnosed" vs. "I have Autism - Undiagnosed."

So, this forum is open to the idea of people self-identifying as Autistic without having an official diagnosis.

HOWEVER, this forums also seems big on the rule that no one here can diagnose anyone else or even give an opinion on someone's status. So, if someone suspects they have Autism, they can join here, but can't directly ask anyone here to confirm or deny it.

"self identified" is a better way to describe "self diagnosed".

Many people in many places do not have access to diagnosing professionals, especially those born before 1980. May professionals have not kept their understanding and information about autism up to date (so much new understanding of autism as being neurological and developmental today as opposed to "behavioral" when many professionals first obtained their education)

This makes it so difficult for those adults seeking professional diagnosis to obtain it. Most people who self identify as autistic/ self diagnose do so after sometimes years of seeking information and learning about autism .

Many autism support groups do understand these struggles and self identified autism is well accepted in many groups.

Self identification can not be used to gain support or accommodations from the government, employers, doctors, etc however, and "official diagnosis" is required for those uses.

There is very little "autism support" available in most places regardless, and autism diagnosis carries a stigma in many places, so sometimes self identified autistic people use this mode to help themselves understand their past and their struggles and make sense of it all, and never attempt formal diagnosis.

Honestly depends who you ask.

I am in favor of well-researched self diagnosis. Almost went that route myself.

Self diagnosed or self identified are allowed to members of wrong planet. This is generally true for most support spaces for Autistics.

While not all members of wrong planet agree with self diagnosis at the present time there is a live and let live attitude about this issue.

There are reports of people who fake having a diagnosis in order to join online communities or to attract attention to themselves. Perfect example is Jerry Seinfeld (whom I'm a big fan) who threw the label around but there's no evidence he's ever been diagnosed.

This is why I always self-disclose that I am NT online so there is no ulterior motives on my part.

So in that respect I don't think people who self-diagnose should advertise themselves as autistic. It's not fair on members who are actually diagnosed.

The last psychiatrist I saw when suicidal offered me a diagnosis. I didn't see the point.

What I wanted was to change my antidepressants. Despite a previous history of suicidal ideation induced by SNRIs and SSRIs my pain clinic had ramped me from a pain dose of amitriptyline to a psychiatric dose. I pleaded that I have a known lack of reaction to a variety of pharmaceuticals, which is a documented effect of my genetic disorder. And that my immunity to DMT suggests an unusual serotonin mechanism. Her response was to bump my amitriptyline dose again.
I lasted 2 days before the multiplication of my symptoms forced me to reduce her dose, and the previous bump.
So I researched my symptoms (thank you NLM) and self diagnosed insidious onset serotonin toxicity.
I started tapering immediately and most of the symptoms shortly dissipated.
If I hadn't self diagnosed I hate to think how much longer I would have been suicidal... Or suffering diaphoria, rigidity, ocular clonus, and every other bloody reported symptom except a major diagnostic criterium.... Masked by insidious onset.
My next self diagnosis followed immediately after.
Post taper I developed tongue thrusting, pharyngeal spasm,
Loss of dynamic balance and full body cramps.
Another trip to the library and I discovered that STOPPING amitriptyline had been known to induce tardive dyskinesia/dystonia.
With a reasonable diagnosis I approached my GP and suggested treatment, but he's palmed me off on neurology clinic... probably assuming drug seeking behaviour.
Now I have to put up with this s**t for months

I don't need an ASD diagnosis... The glove fit from the first time I heard "aspie" and my entire life had an explanation.