For those non-academics, the basic point I was trying to make with sharing these is:

"Labels" for many neurodevelopmental disorders (incl. ADHD and ASD) are somewhat arbitrary and subjective and depend upon the consensus of a group of experts. https://twitter.com/academia_adhd/status/1286343061136707593

Pre-2013 (DSM-V), at least in the US, they were specifically defined so that it was impossible to both have Autism and ADHD. With DSM-V, co-morbidity is possible.

More recent work has suggested that the diagnostic criteria and labels, which are generally not based on underlying neurological phenomena, may not even be appropriate and that there may be significantly more overlap and even commonalities in causality between different labels

Which is to say, we still do not understand enough about these disorders on a basic neurological or genetic level to definitively "diagnose" somebody, or even definitively separate different "disorders" with similar features

For many adults with ADHD and/or Autism, they find similarities with other people with the same "disorder" in terms of how they process information, challenges they face in everyday life, strategies that work, etc.

In this respect, self-diagnosing at "Autistic" is more about having a shared experience of the world / shared modalities for processing sensory information / shared cognitive patterns / shared behavioral patterns / etc. than it is about a particular physiological abnormality

in the brain. There is support and community in self-identifying with people who have similar struggles and similar understandings of the world, regardless of whether a subjective "doctor" has said you fit an arbitrary set of "criteria" or not.

Self-diagnosing does not reduce the struggles of people with a diagnosis. The value of a diagnosis comes in (1) special assistance at school or work, (2) some sort of disability support from the government, or (3) access to specific medications or treatments.

In terms of community or coping strategies, there is no difference in whether you are officially diagnosed or not. There is also the fact that mental diagnosis is incredibly biased, and diagnostic outcomes often depend upon one's race, socioeconomic class, gender, etc.

as well as the "school" of the diagnosing practitioner. I can "fake" a middle class lifestyle yet still cannot afford the cost of potentially-inconclusive neuropsychological testing to get a "true" diagnosis. The who basis of the diagnosis system is discriminatory towards

lower socioeconomic classes that cannot afford the full testing. In addition to this, adult diagnosis of many neurodevelopmental disorders (e.g. ADHD, ASD) depends a lot upon childhood behaviors, childhood records, and other things. Especially among those who have learned to

mask. Those records may not exist or be accessible to everybody. Denying access to a community of like-minded individuals based on subjective, biased gatekeeping criteria both harms diversity within the community as well as excludes the people who need the most support and help

In conclusion, I see "Autism" as two separate things. On the one hand, there is "Autism" as in ASD, a "disability" diagnosis used to get special support from government and educational institutions. On the other hand, there is "Autism" as a particular way of understanding and

processing information and the world.