so yeah i do get why people self-dx if they dont have the necessary factors just to get an actual diagnosis that its taken into their own hands

i get it and i wont disagree with it because given i just admitted that i wouldnt have known i have without that rare chance

and yeah, i still think its kind of shitty that it took me 11 years to actually find out the truth since everything in the midst of that and my parents barely getting by well enough in the process that this year wouldve been a significant uptake but. uh. yeah

i already had the autism diagnosis since the age of 5, it wouldve at least helped to have known everything else but noooo i had to suffer through the depression and then anxiety from a young age to the point that i wanted to scream

a diagnosis shouldnt have to be limited to those who can afford it is what im getting at here but the problem is the idea that you need to have enough just to find out stuff you wouldve already figured out with enough research into it

im also gonna add this other part because this is significant to this thread

My dad didn't know he had autism until he got his diagnosis at the same time I got my first diagnosis.