
This is simple. Only a psychiatric evaluation should be taken seriously. An autistic person could say that another person *SEEMS* autistic, but that isn’t an evaluation and does not give the undiagnosed person to the right to present the disability as an actual diagnosis. So basically, an autistic person is making an observation based on their lived experience. It cannot be superseded by an actual diagnosis. The undiagnosed person is in no position to make a solo claim in any capacity.
or I mean, where do you draw the line? if one is so intent on deferring to the professionals, why not defer to the specific professionals who say that “self-diagnosis” does tend to count for something? people will come across awfully smug about “only listening to licensed pros” even while they use that as permission to not do their own critical thinking
like… first you say “only a psychiatric evaluation should be taken seriously”, but then you say “[observation based on their lived experience] cannot be superseded by an actual diagnosis”? you’re contradicting yourself. do you just not know what “superseded” means? and what’s all this talk of whether or not someone “has the right” to call themselves autistic? that’s not your call to make. being into authoritarianism doesn’t automatically qualify you as the authority lol