Autistic Self-Diagnosis Is Valid
Because the diagnostic process is highly flawed
Dear fellow self-diagnosed adult autistics who are struggling with imposter syndrome, gate-seeking, and other barriers to formal diagnosis:
You are not alone.
I still struggle with imposter syndrome and self-doubt on a regular basis.
The formal diagnostic process is highly flawed and biased, and access is neither equitable nor equal.
The DSM-V criteria for autism was written with little white boys in mind, and nearly all autism-related research is still being done by neurotypical researchers, and is still focused on little white boys.
Researchers seem to forget that autistic children grow into adults, there are autistic people who happen to not be male, and there exist autistic people who happen to not be white.
There is some fantastic research being done by Actually Autistic researchers, women, non-binary people, trans people, and people of colour, but it’s only a drop in the bucket right now.
Camouflaging and masking
Some clinicians still have an outdated, stereotypical view of what autism really is and how it presents in different people.
