Is Autism Self Diagnosis Valid? - Tiktok Gave Me Autism Reaction 

I can't be formally diagnosed because it would end my career, but when I discovered the autistic community, I realized that most of the things I thought were unique personality traits were just straight autism. I think it's totally valid, and the accuracy of self diagnosis has been found to be around 80% in alignment with formal assessments.

As a kid currently in a UK secondary and awaiting an autism assessment I always feel so frustrated by hearing my peers saying oh I watched this TikTok and took a quiz so now I think im like 100% autistic- I cant identify with my own brain and feel so bad about my traits most days yet they think they can watch a 60 second video full of poorly construed information and all of a sudden theyre autistic and im still stuck here waiting, its honestly infuriating. Keep in mind that I have an extensive knowledge of autism and similar conditions due to family and my own research and frequently feel like I dont deserve the support I need or don’t ask for things that will help me because there are people who are diagnosed and I dont wanna take away from them.

Autism is not a mental illness but 70-90% of autistic people have at least one co-occuring mental illness.

I've already gone through imposter syndrome which lasted more than eight years. Autism, although it's not a mental illness, would have more research done on it if there was a financial solution or treatment such as medication. No research for human benefit is incentivized without a prescribed treatment. For this reason, I am very hopeful for the people who fight and petition for a better future for Autistic people. I also find this frustrating because I am disabled although not for the reason that the U.S. government thinks.

I really believe it is if you know the diagnostic criteria .

I see autism as partly biological because I have physical problems that are more common in autistic people.

Since I certainly do have monotropism, and ASD is on a "spectrum", I feel no need for a formal diagnosis of ASD. I was 'formally' diagnosed with dyslexia in the 1980s. Monotropism accounts for some other traits such as meltdowns and social anxiety I have. So, if people ask, I say that I am "on the spectrum". Cheers!

Really difficult, of course self-diagnosis can go wrong. However, going to "experts" with years of studying and experience, it can still go wrong. Their bias can be induced by financial incentives. Or they have early learned prejudices never unlearned if part of the prejudice is that autistic people are confused hence autistic people should be disbelieved. Some are raised with boys only, no girls, no women, no adults and no non-whites and never got that adjusted. So in essence, you can self-diagnose and go wrong for almost for free, or spend hours of time and thousands of dollars on a diagnosis and still know nothing for sure because the outcome cannot be trusted at all due to the corruption in the part of the medical system. Even if they tell the truth and are correct, you can't be sure they are, for they have a history of being wrong so often. The only thing you do know is that the society doesn't regard you as "normal", because that will be communicated. Everything else will forever remain an unknown. Which means any coping mechanism out there is just trial and error on an individual basis. The lack of accuracy in diagnosis is intensely frustrating. In a sense, self diagnosis, going to "experts" or rolling a dice can all lead to a correct diagnosis, mostly based on luck, not on any level of true insight. Like how a clock standing still is telling the correct time at times, even if you can't know when that is.

I was diagnosed autistic an placed in special ed as a kid. I just had genetic testing and i actually have DEE (developmental and epileptic encephalopathy). I do think genetics plays a huge role. I also think self dx is valid because my parents actually rejected my dx and taught me autism isnt real. So i rediscovered my dx by watching videos about autism and relating so hard.

Very insightfulthanks for this🙏

CHRONICALLY underrated content. Thankyou

After looking back at my life, myself and everything for years. I seem to have both CPTSD and Autism. I have symptoms that overlap, but many specific to each. I was diagnosed with ADD as a kid, but some things cropped up in my early 20’s (chronic migraine, stomach issues and insomnia) and apparently thise are signs of being undiagnosed in adulthood. Theres so much that makes so much sense from this perspective. Im just literally too poor for a real diagnosis so I’m sitting here in my 30’s questioning my entire life and reality. 3 years of research and this is where it all leads back to. Those 2 things..I’ve talked to actual Autistic people I know and I got a combination of “i could have told you that”, “YOU SOUND JUST LIKE ME” “dont even waste the time and money, I am, and you definitely are”. But im like I’m not allowed to say it until a piece of paper says so. From my perspective, the only options are undiagnosed CPTSD combined with Autism, or I have about 1,500 different medical issues with no relation whatsoever. Idk. My entire life can be described as “I feel like there’s something wrong with me that everyone knows about but wont tell me.” Based on a lot of how i was treated my entire life.

Thats one thing thats worrying my partner about me getting a diagnosis, we want to adopt. (We're gay so theres no other option). It shouldn't in the UK but there's still a possibility it could.

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD VIDEO 😅❤🎉

I don't agree with Simon Baron Cohen and the extreme male brain theory. It makes no sense.

Self diagnosis is the first step toward diagnosis !

Yes😊

Here’s how I define our experience. We are limited choice chemical reaction machines.

I was diagnosed. However this theory of mind bit seems extremely bizarre to me. I have been excellent at that but I have a physical brain development effecting invisible handicap (after the surgery it can not be seen) that make me socially awkward and I do have some sensitives in my nervous system. It sucks that there is no neurodivergent No Otherwise Specified diagnosis. I requested it to be changed because the people who see my diagnosis make false assumptions about my capabilities and interests. Anyway, that said, I have met one autistic woman who I have helped with ToM stuff online. It can be absolutely devastating disability especially if they grow up in highly reactive families that lack self reflection.

Absolute truth exists, but subjective truth, or group rationale, is what’s agreed on. Not necessarily to fit a narrative but also because we (humans) are lazy and outsource our thinking and assign the authority of any subject either to people, or a book that has a convenient answer. They (we) think that we don’t have to know or think about “knowledge” when we can just pull up what we need on your phone

Can self diagnosing mean you are entitled to work place adjustments?

If autism is based on specific genes, I wonder what would happen if the expression of those genes changes in non-autistic people

The university degree is from Brown, in Providence R.I.

I could go and earn my MPsy in less time than it would take for a diagnosis, so THEN I could be qualified to diagnose ASD, but then I’d probably get criticized by doctors for self diagnosis, instead of tic tok and RU-vid creators, lol

I'm undiagnosed, and I dont think it's complicated whether I deserve accommodation before someone with an official diagnosis. Obviously I don't. This argument is actually against accommodation at all. Its disingenuous. This is purely a moving of the goalposts.

Lol, if your SM algorithm is putting a bunch of neurodiverse content in front of you, that should at least be a yellow flag. I feel like a lot of the pushback to selfdiagnosis comes from people who fit the criteria but resist the diagnosis.

Unfortunately the people I've come across who are adults who have self diagnosed have diagnosed personality disorders. Literally the AQ test and the graph test shows there is no chance they are autistic and they don't meet the criteria but because they have a P.D they are still going round telling people they're autistic, signing up to autism courses and are taking a space on the waiting list from someone else. It's disgusting. They literally said "I feel autistic so I am autistic" and got really angry when I didn't validate their delusion. I have difficulty interacting online in some autistic groups because they're full of self diagnosed people who have a different experience of what it's like to be autistic (because they're likely not). If we are going to allow PD people I'm rejecting my own diagnosis. I don't want to be associated with such toxic people. When you are diagnosed with a Personality Disorder other things are ruled out but these arrogant people think they know better than doctors.

A diagnosis is just one opinion about a condition that is by definition pretty vague - a spectrum. It is frustrating, but autism is not a concrete well-defined thing that can be objectively true or not.

There is only one true privilege, that's green privilege. Money. Everything else is illusory. Funny thing, as the money is also illusory.

I have got into an argument recently with one of my trolls who has decided to self diagnose themselves with autism. At the end of the day a self diagnosis of autism is only valid with professional intervention. The issue I see is my troll has a history of parody, it's difficult to trust them so the story of The Boy Who Cried Wolf comes to mind.

😅 if its become cool to pretend ✌ youre autistic thats dope 😂

Personally I don’t believe self diagnosis is valid, I understand it is very hard to get an assessment but these people (assessors) have been trained and will be dealing with this day in and day out, they will know wot to look for (traits/signs) and see all the small nuances that others may not see.