The Autistic self-advocacy community operates under the paradigm of neurodiversity.): we view our disability as deserving acceptance and accommodation, not treatment or a cure. As neurodiverse people, we believe we are marginalized because [society discriminates against us and excludes us](https://www.scope.org.uk/about-us/social-model-of-disability/#:~:text=The social model of disability is a way of,world%2C developed by disabled people.&text=The model says that people,buildings not having accessible toilets.), and that we have always existed and always will. Some aspects of being Autistic might be painful or debilitating (such as sensory overload) but that doesn’t mean that we need to change any more than a non-Autistic person who gets depressed following a profound loss needs to change. Rather, it’s society that must to change to include us and treat our pain as valid. Taking steps to make the world more inclusive for Autistics will ultimately benefit everyone: no one enjoys painfully bright fluorescent lights or vague, indirect communication, no matter their neurotype.

The concept of embracing neurodiversity and the process of psychiatric diagnosis are fundamentally incompatible with one another.  Where neurodiversity accepts, diagnosis pathologizes; where neurodiversity argues for expanded social norms, diagnosis restricts behavior and labels it abnormal or sick. Neurodiversity allows Autistics to join up with a wide swathe of people: ADHDers, people with psychosis, Borderline Personality Disorder sufferers, Narcissists, trauma survivors, people with seizure conditions, and more, and gives us the power to see how ableism harm us all. Psychiatric diagnosis says that we aren’t all part of a larger community affected by discrimination, we are distinct, small groups of unwell people who need individual treatment under their supervision (and control).

Informed consent was driven by the idea that each trans person has the ability to know themselves and figure out what they need. And that is exactly how those of us in the neurodiverse community should be approaching Autism. Just like transness (and gayness before it), Autism was categorized for a long time as a mental illness. But that way of understanding our identity has only left us excluded and unempowered. In order to resist our own oppression, we must reject the notion we need psychiatric approval to be ourselves.

So no, I don’t believe self-diagnosis is valid. I believe it is essential, just, and revolutionary.