the people who get mad abt self diagnosis come off to be the kind of ppl who dont want to see us being proud of who we are. many of the people who say that were "making autism a trend" are people who come off as simply not wanting to see autistic people or what they have to say. so much of the conversations around autistic people come from people who aren't autistic or from medical sources. because of this, the way people perceive autistic people is barely as people at all. so when they're faced with our humanity, it makes them uncomfortable because of their preconceived notions already surrounding autism. i'm a nonbinary lesbian, and the same kind of arguments are used consistently. they don't want us to be ourselves "out in the open" or they want to be completely separate from their lives. they don't understand us, and they don't want to, so they turn it on the oppressed as OUR fault.

more ranting under the cut...

also, the "rise of autism" is bullshit. we do live in an internet age, but that isn't always necessarily a bad thing. before, many people only assumed if they were autistic based off of stereotypes. that didn't mean people werent autistic. i have relatives who have gotten diagnosed as having adhd and dyslexia in their 60s because theres more information readily available about it. if this is true for my middle aged aunties, why is it not true for younger people? women, people who... aren't children, and poc are less likely to be diagnosed with adhd or autism because of assumptions that medical professionals have (i'm not gna talk abt that im sure we all know abt discrimination in the medical field). in my case, all of my aunties are middle-aged/elderly east asian women. even still, one of my aunties was told there was "no use in diagnosing her with autism because shes too old". it's bullshit. they're not even saying "you don't have autism", they're just straight up denying you access to diagnosis.

because it's well known that we are refused access to diagnosis, many people rely on self diagnosis, not just because we made it up, but because we've done thorough research on it, contemplated on our own behaviors, talked to other people who have autism/adhd/etc. i was able to self diagnose myself because i was friends with people who were neurodivergent, some of them who were professionally diagnosed and others who were self diagnosed. having people who have similar behaviors to you that attribute those behaviors to a more complex reason other than "im not good with humour" makes you think. self diagnosis isn't just someone waking up and thinking we have autism, it's something you deliberate on. besides, i think the active pushback on self diagnosis is simply because we're talking about it. many people self diagnose before getting professionally diagnose. you can't walk into a psychiatrist's office and they just tell you that you have autism (esp with the way our medical system works). people like me for example, self diagnose in order to acknowledge that we have this disability/disorder, and then later (sometimes, not everyone) get a professional diagnosis, or at least seek one. of all the things i have self-diagnosed myself with, i was never wrong. because self diagnosis isn't a joke.

self diagnosis isn't an epidemic, its a rising of people being able to know why they are the way they are.

if people want to point out one or two people who've "faked" diagnosis, it's suuuuuch bullshit. besides, sometimes in the MEDICAL WORLD people get misdiagnosed. i have no problem with people trying to figure out who they are, and making mistakes on the way. if someone thinks they have autism, then realize it might be adhd or ocd, that's fine and it's better than getting a professional misdiagnosis. theres so much misinformation and widespread stereotypes that make it hard for people to understand themselves, and many disorders have overlap. i have autism, adhd, and a learning disability (and have wondered almost my entire life if i have ocd lmao). autism can be similar to adhd can be similar to a learning disability. mental disabilities/disorders can be complex as fuck. for example, i have epilepsy, which is known to be more apparent in people with autism. when i tell people that its probably confusing as fuck. i dont understand it either.

because, not to get psychological, but our brains don't know they're autistic, or have adhd, or are neurotypical. WE know we are, because we take these things our brain does and attribute them to a label. because the world has made that label. im not calling it a label in a bad way, or saying its wrong, more to acknowledge that autism can be different for everyone, and that's because autism isn't one thing. its not one carbon copy brain that we all have. no one has the same brain. not entirely, and throughout our lives our brain develops and changes. my grandfather was older than the thing he got diagnosed with. doesn't mean he didn't have it. doctors just studied and studied and eventually were able to attribute behaviors to a unique diagnosis

i could rant on forever but im ending it here cus im tired