I have recently joined other autism related subs and I keep seeing really hurtful and offensive things being said when people who self diagnose give reasons why they don’t want to or need to get a formal diagnosis and it’s starting to really bother me.

One of the most common things I keep seeing is people say “I don’t need to get a diagnosis because you can’t cure autism” to me it feels like they are implying that if you are in the process of getting or have a diagnosis it’s because you think you can cure autism which is actually quite offensive to me ( obviously not true if that were the case diagnosis’s wouldn’t exist in the first place) do they think if your diagnosed you will be sent to some autism conversion therapy??? like the point of getting a diagnosis is to find out if you are actually autistic or not and get the proper accommodations and resources that you need right? They also say “ i like the way i am I don’t want people to try to change that” when that is the complete opposite of what happens when you get diagnosed, you learn how to better advocate for yourself and get support in ways you need it and better help those around you understand how things might be for you and what is helpful or harmful to you and to better understand yourself.

Another thing they say in the same vein is that there are no “medications for autism” so there’s no point, they’re acting like the only reason to get diagnosed with autism is to get medications for it which doesn’t make any sense because with anything you need an assessment or eval for no one goes just to be medicated and if you are there’s a huge lack of understanding what it means to be diagnosed with almost anything not medically related. Yes there is no medication specifically for autism but there are medications that can help with anxiety or mood regulation if that is something you struggle with, plus with anything medications are only play a small role in helping and most of it comes from therapy and learning tools on how to better navigate life and to have an outlet to be able to share difficult emotions that the average person probably won’t understand or give proper advice for.

Another thing they say is they don’t want to have a label that people will discriminate against like having autism is a choice for people? Also you don’t have to tell the whole world, but that would ruin their whole point of being autistic in the first place (to be clear I’m taking about people who self diagnose). I didn’t choose to be diagnosed with something that people make fun of and don’t understand and I sure was never given the privilege to decide wether or not I wanted that “label”, I feel like they completely forget that a lot of autistic people were diagnosed as a child or because they were urged by a professional to get assessed and not because they thought they have it there for are seeking it out, it is so offensive to me when they want to associate themselves with a literal disability but don’t want to have the “label” of being disabled to avoid judgment which to me feels like they themselves are judgmental towards disabled people and don’t want to be associated with that, it’s like they can pick and choose what experience they get to have when no one else was given that luxury and it’s so odd to me that you want so badly to be autistic but want to avoid being diagnosed with it because you don’t want people to judge you which is so offensive to everyone that didn’t have a choice at all wether or not they have it. I truly can’t wrap my head around it, it makes absolutely no sense to me.

I honestly have more things to rant about but my message is already way too long that even I wouldn’t really want to read so I’m gonna leave it there in hopes someone actually does.