I never cease to be frustrated by anti-self-dxers, and how they seem to have literally never heard of someone like me - someone who is an adult, has consulted to the best of their ability including speaking with professionals without the authority to enter a diagnosis, cannot under any circumstances get a diagnosis, because I will (not can, but absolutely 100% certainty fucking will) lose important legal rights such as access to my fucking child, and a huge amount of my trauma centers around institutionalization and the fear of going back.

These circumstances are— really not that uncommon among self dx folks?

But sure it’s all just kids making shit up for attention

Yyyyyyeahhhhh somehow I REALLY doubt that you’d lose your kid if you got a professional diagnosis. On the contrary, if you keep self-diagnosing, you probably WILL lose your kid.
Not to mention you could self-Dx yourself wrong, and guess what? It could be something totally different and ten times more/less harmful.

When I wrote this, it was a couple weeks after the highest court in my province put two kids in foster care because their parents were autistic, and that was deemed sufficiently dangerous to warrant removal.

And, y'know, I was almost killed by professional misdiagnosis, something it’s taken me the better part of twenty years to get past in any way, and which still haunts my nightmares.

But, y'know, I highly doubt real, lived experiences matter more than your strawmen. So whatever.

Yyyyyyeahhhhh somehow I REALLY doubt that you’d lose your kid if you got a professional diagnosis. On the contrary, if you keep self-diagnosing, you probably WILL lose your kid.
Not to mention you could self-Dx yourself wrong, and guess what? It could be something totally different and ten times more/less harmful.

Me: “Professional DX could cost me my child.”
Some asshole: “Doubt it.”
You: “That dude’s right.”
Me: “That literally happened to people, in my city, just before I said that.”
You: “But that was because of professional diagnosis! Go see a doctor!”

Like. Do you even logic? You’re literally saying that an incident in which people had their kids taken away on the basis of a professional diagnosis shouldn’t count as a reason not to be professionally diagnosed.

You: “Self-dx could be harmful, maybe! I can’t point to any actual cases of this happening, but this is my theory.”
Me: “Here in the real world, professional dx lead to me being mismedicated, attempting suicide, and going through the most traumatic experience of my life. But I’m sure that doesn’t matter against your hypothetical dangers of self-diagnosis.”
You: “That totally wasn’t a strawman! Go see a doctor!”

Like. Yeah. That was fucking traumatic as shit. Yes, I’m in therapy that’s specifically helping me to address it. And yes, my therapist has extremely strict instructions to never refer me to anybody with diagnostic authority - a policy she understands, accepts, and supports. How am I gonna get medication without a diagnosis? I’m not. I’m gonna have to cope using what non-medicinal tools are available to me. Because that’s how I keep my child and my life and my freedom.

But self-diagnosis is so incredibly harmful! I should totally trust a stranger on the Internet about my mental health needs, rather than myself and my actual fucking therapist, right?

As for the “you can’t rely on yourself” shit: That is the literal, textbook definition of a strawman. It’s one you fucks always trot out, and I’ve literally never seen a single case of it being true. Self-diagnosis is generally an intensive process, involving months of research, talking to people who have the condition, seeing how relatable their experiences are to you, trying some of their coping methods and (in my case, because I was incredibly lucky) consulting both officially and unofficially with people who work professionally with patients in a non-diagnosing and non-prescribing capacity.

Finally: Even if I were to take your advice, even though why should I— Who’s gonna cough up the $2000? Because I’m sure as fuck not taking it out of my kid’s mouth. Or mine.

Think for half a fucking second about this before you condescend to me again. And maybe don’t compare an autie to a movement that would rather their children die than grow up like her?