Self-Identification is the Future of Autism Assessment

Instead of trying to reform the process of Autism diagnosis, we should be working to move past it.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

By now, a majority of Autism researchers and clinicians are aware that the existing assessments for Autism are profoundly flawed.

They know the standard evaluation of Autism is sexist, with assessors excluding women for reasons like wearing makeup, having a boyfriend, being superficially polite, or not being fixated on suitably ‘masculine’ topics like ancient Roman history or barometric pressure.

They know Autism evaluations are racist, deeming Black Autistics “oppositionally defiant” or even “borderline” rather than acknowledging any social alienation or sensory pain they’re experiencing, and believing they must be overstating the difficulty they face in moving through the world.

And they certainly know that conventional Autism measures weren’t designed with adult Autistics in mind. Many of us are still asked to make up stories based on paintings of frogs in a toddler’s picture book, when we sit down for assessments at age 20, or 30, or 45 — because all the evaluation methods were written for young kids.

The data has already proven the far-reaching consequences of using such shoddy measures of Autism. People of color, gender minorities, older adults, and women are diagnosed at later ages, and also go undiagnosed at massive rates.

Instead of finding out that the way their minds and bodies work diverges from the societal norm, and being able to forge communities with similarly neurodivergent people, they are left floundering, drinking themselves through the day to blunt sensory issues, starving themselves because they can’t focus on their schoolwork and remember to eat, dating people they aren’t attracted to and having sex they don’t want to have in a bid to appear normal, working unfulfilling, under-paying jobs in whatever fields they can hold down, and concealing the moments of…