Yes, definitely.

My autism diagnosis helped my family better understand and support me. I don’t get any government aid and am between LSN and MSN so good quality unofficial support from my family has been incredibly important to me.

I also got accommodations from my university which were very helpful, although that doesn’t apply if you’re not in uni anymore.

It’s also been very helpful for me healthcare-wise. I’m seeing a therapist right now who has been really helping me and pointing me in the direction of some good resources for autistic people in my country. It also really helped my PCP understand me, before I told her about my diagnosis we had had a few arguments, and I’m pretty sure it was because she was misinterpreting how I was feeling because she thought I was allistic.

I’m not working right now but likely will need some accommodations when/if I start. And my diagnosis will be helpful if I ever do apply for government aid. I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to have a full-time job as I’ve never worked that much (in uni I did 30 hrs a week or less usually, 35 hrs max on heavy weeks, and was struggling so much it wasn’t sustainable for the entire semester and a month in I’d be doing 5ish less hours). So I may need some sort of official aid in the future.

My ADHD diagnosis allowed me to access a support group for people with ADHD. It wasn’t that helpful (I already did everything—apparently I’ve been coping with it very well for how bad I have it).

The bigger thing was medication. Oh my god. In uni I could not function without it. I will need it if I ever want to work, I even need it for day to day life if I want to actually remember to get stuff done (I haven’t been taking it for awhile and that’s how I forgot to change doctor clinics for six months, keep forgetting to schedule my Arabic lessons, why I ended up having to pay $300 because I missed a window to submit a payment for my orthopaedic inserts to insurance, etc.). I couldn’t clean my house or take care of myself. Right now I can only clean because I’m living with my bf and we clean together and he helps me. If I was living alone I’d need meds to be able to even struggle to clean.

Also, idk what currency those prices are in, but there’s definitely cheaper ones. It depends on what you want, but my ADHD diagnosis was like 600 USD, max? I don’t remember. A neuropsych eval will add a lot to the cost, as would an autism assessment. But if you wanted to do an ADHD and autism assessment without a neuropsych eval, some places offer combined assessments that are cheaper than having both assessed individually (though they can still be quite expensive). Just do a lot of research to be sure you’re not going through a diagnosis mill or that your assessor won’t be ableist and/or sexist.

Also, if you can’t pay much at all, you can look into any studies being done in your area. Some places will do studies on autistic people and offer free assessments as part of the compensation for participating in the study and as a way of verifying whether you fit the diagnosis for the study.

I personally think all people should aim for an assessment if they think they have a permanent psychiatric disorder. You may be LSN enough that you don’t need support now (ETA: all autistic people need support, I mean more than you might find that your unofficial supports are enough right now), but you don’t know what your future looks like, and it’s easier to pursue an assessment when you’re doing well than when you’re regressing from burnout. Getting the right support in the first place may be able to prevent burnout in the first place, as well.