one day we’re gunna talk about how autistic community increasingly assumes that all autistics are adult dx’d or self dx’d, and how that has changed what we think diagnosis is and does in fundamental ways

one model of dx views it as a kind of forced entry into medical monitoring that one trades for “care” (if one can find it).

here dx is seen as a manifestation of oppression because needing one essentially ties you to a violent, racist industry until you are “cured” or die.

then there’s a model that says all diagnosis, no matter how violent or coercive or incorrect or stigmatizing or unwanted is a privilege.

one of these models views the medical industrial complex as potentially coercive and oppressive, and holds it accountable (at least in thought) for using its power to racist, anti-queer & trans, classist, sexist aims.

one views the medical industrial complex as something fundamentally helpful, and diagnosis as a reward of some kind for being able to navigate the system well.

it’s important to note that many people are diagnosed during emergency room visits at their most vulnerable, during episodes and crisis. being dx’d this way is common, and often leads to prisons, asylums, and other punishments.

that’s not privilege.

other folks, were diagnosed in school systems. those diagnoses came and interfered with our right to learn, and were often foisted on us in tandem to comparing us to abled students and finding us wanting, or forcing/kicking us out of school altogether.

that’s not privilege.