I don't know who needs to see this, but when you're an undiagnosed, high masking, lower support needs, autistic adult living independently... your only path towards diagnosis is by first self-identifying as autistic. 

No one is going to swoop in and get you diagnosed.

Some of us call it self-diagnosis. Some call it self-identification. Some, late-discovered. Regardless, the reality is the same...

It's an autistic person who has realized late in life after years of struggling without knowing why, (in many cases, after years of suffering)... that they're autistic.

To put it another way, no undiagnosed autistic adult would ever pursue an assessment if they weren't 99.999% convinced they were autistic.

Which means, 100% of undiagnosed, high masking, lower support needs, autistic adults living independently that are eventually diagnosed... at one point in time, self-discovered, or self-identified, or self-diagnosed as autistic.

Call it whatever you want... self-diagnosed, self-identified, late-discovered... it's all the same thing. 

And it's also a necessary step for the vast majority of late discovered autistic adults to get a diagnosis. 

That's IF pursuing an assessment is even possible. Which for many, it isn't. 

And telling those people they can't self-identify (aka self-diagnose) when they are literally autistic

(I'm talking about people who are literally, actually autistic, just without a diagnosis)

is a nasty form of gatekeeping that they don't even remotely deserve.

What they deserve is acceptance and support.

Just like the rest of us. 

Also, in case this didn't come through clearly enough... self-diagnosis is valid. 🤗

Thanks for coming to my Ted talk. 👍🏻