It shouldn't need to be said in the #ActuallyAutistic community, but self-DX/self awareness is COMPLETELY VALID. It isn't a club. It isn't your hobby. It's a neurotype and if you don't know that doctors & psychologists have been gatekeeping us for generations, educate yourself.
#Autism #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autistic #AutisticAdults
I have a hilarious(ly sad) story about the gatekeeping:
I finally found a psychologist in my small Indian town that I had rapport with, took my online test results and talked about my experiences, and asked about a diagnosis.
He seemed weirdly resistant to the idea without giving any reasons, and kept diverting the conversation. (1/n continued below)
#Autism #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autistic #AutisticAdults #ActuallyAutistic #AutismDiagnosis
So I'm technically undiagnosed to this day, because an #ActuallyAutistic doctor thought he was doing me a favour! He was gatekeeping me (and possibly others like me) out of "good" intentions, because of the trauma he himself had suffered and apparently never worked through.
#Autism #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autistic #AutisticAdults #AutismDiagnosis
@theautisticcoach
Turned out over the course of the conversation, that he had been diagnosed as autistic in his early 20s, had a lot of associated trauma around it himself, and so thought of the diagnosis as some kind of mark of doom.
Trying to tell him that I just wanted to understand myself better and didn't think of it as a negative thing, didn't go anywhere. (2/n)
#Autism #neurodivergent #neurodiversity #autistic #AutisticAdults #AutismDiagnosis #ActuallyAutistic