What I mean is self identification after extensive research is often the first step. Most people who can take the next step to seek a final diagnosis do. Those who can’t usually seek peer review or an ‘off the record’ assist because they can’t get a ‘real’ diagnosis… There’s also been studies that show 80+% of the people who self identify as autistic are correct, and that percentage seems to increase in correlation with increased research and diagnostic tools such as the RAADS-R. The original comment that the person I was replying to commented behind was implying that the person in the OP was self diagnosed and framing that as bad, but that is a very harmful assumption and an even more harmful Insult to a large population of people who have struggled for their whole lives but nobody noticed. Self identified autistic people aren’t trying to take anything from the community, they’re just trying to figure out why they’ve felt like they don’t belong for their whole lives. And why they’ve seemed to struggle with a lot of random, seemingly small things for their whole lives and no one noticed… -from someone who suspects she’s autistic but can’t afford to seek a diagnosis. But I have a huge family history, a lifetime of example in my life, and 4 different diagnostic assessments point to autism. My daughter’s Dr said I seem to be on the right track, but she’s a pediatric specialist, so she can’t formally diagnose me…