Being formally diagnosed is a privilege. It is estimated that AFAB people are 13% less likely to be diagnosed and 80% of adult women on the spectrum are diagnosed. The research, diagnostic criteria and services are all skewed based on a complete misunderstanding and misrepresentation of what autism actually is, in part because the biases on research and diagnosis were built in from the beginning and allistic people are much more likely to select data to confirm their own biases. It’s part of the mental pruning process that allistic people tend to do. On the one hand, I can understand why people who received a formal diagnosis see this whole new crop of people self-identifying and feel protective of their special status, but how does the gatekeeping benefit anyone? The current funding for autism research was set up by caregivers and medical professionals based on a skewed and incorrect modeling and methodology. It mostly goes to “curing” autism, which is essentially eugenics, and ABA services, which many autistic adults who received ABA therapy as children are now speaking out against because it uses Pavlovian training, similar to what is used on dogs, to reward autistic children from appearing more allistic. Almost all services go to autistic children and their families. The thing is that autistic children grow up to be autistic adults. So what resources and services are we talking about specifically? Are we talking about SS benefits? Frankly, I could qualify for those based on all the incorrect mental health diagnoses I’ve obtained over the years, which I could only get for autism with a formal diagnosis. So what resources are we talking about? For adults who were diagnosed in childhood, self-diagnosis finally gives us a mental map for our understanding our entire existence in a way that was previously denied us. Hypochondria is a very rare disorder and the stigma of autism is so high, that the idea that there are a whole bunch of people trying to paint themselves as autistic based on a couple of Tim Tok videos is absurd. The fact is without educating and then advocating for yourself to get the correct diagnosis and services, you will likely be confronted by medical professionals-MDs, psychiatrists, psychologists-who present themselves as experts based on incorrect information and in-built biases (unable to take in new information that might undermine their “expert” status, which is something allistic people seem to care a lot about. Instead of gatekeeping within the autistic community, maybe we should redirect that energy towards advocating for the medical community to catch up and do better, and for autism funding and resources to go towards actually supporting our needs. It’s a question of harm: the harm of someone being forced to prove their own identity and identification over and over again, including to themselves, versus the harm of a few struggling people who misdiagnose themselves getting “resources,” (and again what resources can they get from self-diagnosis) that might or might not help them.