Many #AutisticWhileBlack ppl I know personally began with self-diagnosis that explained misdiagnoses and filled in blanks. This self-diagnosis led to an eventual formal diagnosis. Sitting on Twitter as an anonymous white autistic telling BLPOC not to self-dx is not appropriate. 1

One friend of mine only began to become aware she might be autistic when her younger brother announced he had gotten a formal dx by a therapist who felt racism and stereotyping factored into her brother's previous attempts to seek mental health help. 2/

Only after listening to her brother and self-diagnosing did she go to the expense of seeking a formal diagnosis. Despite it being an adult dx that made access to some supports impossible, the self-dx led to an improved QoC. 3/

Access to affordable assessment and diagnosis is one of the reasons Autism for African American communities requires our representation in public policy at the decision making level. We are the ones who understand how historic racism propagate misdiagnosis 4/

We are the ones who know the impact of medical racism in the denial of proper diagnosis. We are the ones who know the history of using BLPOC for medical experimentation and why BLPOC approach the medical and mental health systems we must navigate with trepidation 5/

Tweeting blanket generalized edicts negating self-diagnosis as an option and using BLPOC and racism shows ignorance of the path BLPOC take of necessity to learn the proper identifiers of their disability and get correct supports and assistance for it. 6/

I wrote this entire thread here because I refuse to engage with folks on Twitter seeking confrontation on topics they don't understand in order to create discord. Respect and H/T to @ekverstania for the tag on this topic to get input from #AutisticWhileBlack voices. 7/