I’m really upset by the article in The Times today headlined “self diagnosis of ADHD and autism ‘risks overwhelming health system’”. It claims that self-identification of these neurodivergences “risks… harming those who need the most help”.
I fully disagree with this. Everyone with these neurodivergences is deserving of help and understanding themselves. Diagnosis is a privilege that not everyone has access to, and self-identification of an identity is valid – we should not be prevented from understanding our differences from the neuromajority. I also fail to see how, and the article does not articulate why self-diagnosis would lead to harms for those who are “less articulate or non-verbal”. Yes, people in these groups deserve support and diagnosis but this does not detract from the issues faced by those with supposedly less ‘severe’ traits – noting that, there is no severity levels of autism, we’re all equally Autistic. We just have varying needs of support.
I feel that by people being more aware and able to understand themselves, we can leverage pressure to change society to work better for us. We can work as a group to create services that meet our needs, and advocate for ourselves as a minority group. It’s unfortunate that there persist to be those who argue that these neurodivergences need to be seen as medical conditions based around deficit. We have a fight on our hands to get Autistic and neurodivergent culture recognised as legitimate and valid, but I have faith that with time we will reach this goal.
PDA fae 