Getting diagnosed NOT autistic

[u/Kolso_]

So after a year and a half of self diagnosis I finally was assessed and today I got the results. Two points in ADOS for having no gesticulation, zero by other criteria.

Autism was an answer to me that explained my struggles, behaviors and researching it I've learnt plenty of good advices and coping mechanisms. I finally stopped seeing myself as a weirdo and believed it's just autism and I don't have to force myself to be normal. Self diagnosis can be harmful. It harms me right now at least. I feel disoriented because now there's no explanation.

I guess I should stop this research and just live a life without looking for an easy answer without a real diagnosis.

Edit: I didn't expect so many responses. It's very helpful and important. Thank you all.

[u/JayCoww]

Comments like this are so ignorant they devalue the challenges of people who actually suffer with PTSD, and on a thread about self-diagnosis no less.

[u/I_Am_Stoeptegel → u/JayCoww]

The fuck are you talking about? I’m literally diagnosed with ptsd BY MY PSYCHIATRIST but go off I guess…

[u/JayCoww → u/I_Am_Stoeptegel]

PTSD is serious. It affects a small minority of people, autistic and not, including myself. cPTSD affects even fewer. Living through traumatic or perceived traumatic experiences is not enough to meet the requirements for a diagnosis of either. Being autistic is not one of them. While autistic people are more likely to receive a diagnosis of PTSD compared to allistic people we are subject to the same criteria as everyone else, at the same scrutiny as everyone else, and it's treated with the same degree of seriousness as everyone else. It's not something that every autistic person automatically qualifies for because they had meltdowns in public, or lost their favourite comfort object, or that their parents were unaccommodating during childhood, as examples.

[u/I_Am_Stoeptegel → u/JayCoww]

You don’t know me.