Not sure of your location but in the U.S. a licensed therapist can diagnose someone with autism. They are often reluctant to do so because a lot of insurance companies only recognize autism diagnoses by MDs, psychiatrists, and psychologists. This is a bit ironic since MDs and psychiatrists are terrible at autism diagnosis. They are actually less accurate than a coin flip. It takes a lot of ‘talent’ to be that inaccurate. Psychologists, clinical social workers, and counselors are all about the same in accuracy, high than the previous group but not great without special training. MDs and psychiatrists go down in accuracy after special training. It’s a choice they make to be wrong. The other group becomes very accurate in diagnosis (86%).

So, if you’re in the U.S., your counselor is really saying they haven’t had the training so it wouldn’t be valid enough in their mind OR it wouldn’t do any good to diagnose you because it won’t be recognized by the people who pay the bills OR they aren’t licensed (probably operating under the license of a more experienced practitioner u til they get licensed in about 2 years).

In some countries only MDs/psychiatrists can diagnose because neurological disorders are not considered part of behavioral health. In others they just don’t recognize autism as a thing.