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What even is the use of a diagnosis? (feddit.org)
submitted 6 months ago by cows_are_underrated@feddit.org to c/autism@lemmy.world
29 comments fedilink hide all child comments

So I have been thinking about this for a while. I Am quite sure, that I am somewhere on the spectrum. Im not sure if Its autism or ADHD or somewhere between. I do observe quite a lot of behaviours in myself that regularly get associated with neuroduvergent people (example: I constantly observe different people to analysis how they act in "social interactions" (or other stuff too), because I kind if don't know what society expects as social norms (etc.)).

Logically the next step would be to go to a psychologist and get tested for neurodivergency. The thing is, that I seriously do not see the use in doing so. I know all the different quirks I have quite good and how to deal with them. I also wouldn't say, that they cause any sort of "day to day problems" for myself. Why should I invest the effort to search for a psychologist (I really should do that, but thats for this shitload of other problems I have) to get tested just so that I have a piece of paper that does not change anything in my day to day life.

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[-] Arcanepotato@crazypeople.online 1 points 6 months ago

There are a bunch of reasons not to but I won't dwell on those. I pursued a diagnosis for two main reasons:

One: ADHD meds saved my life. After trying to treat the wrong thing for 20+ years I appear to finally be going in the right direction and I thought if it could be confirmed as autism that would be helpful in directing my approach to unfucking myself.

Two: want to pursue accommodations at work. I hadn't realized that I had near ideal working conditions for most of my career so far...by accident. I'm not so concerned about the accommodations being granted - my work has been trying to keep me happy for a while now - but more to justify the requests?

Some of the stuff I am thinking of asking for is career limiting. And that's fine! I'm mid career and I'm not interested in more formal leadership roles than I have now, and am only performing this current leadership role to support the development of the next generation. But I know it will be seen as me not believing in myself.

Sure, I could do some of this stuff, but only to the detriment of my health and I need to stop redlining myself constantly. With the diagnosis I can say, "Look, I have a literal disability. I know it just looks like a stutter, stubbornness and sometimes getting overwhelmed but it's more than that and the only way to get better is to stop pushing myself so much."

this post was submitted on 20 Mar 2026
20 points (88.5% liked)

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