Ethical concerns regarding self-diagnosis—My philosophical stance on the necessity of self-diagnosis

I believe it is not just ethical to help suspecting autistic people self-identify / self-diagnose but philosophically aligned with how the DSM describes autistic support needs.

I wrote a detailed article to explain my philosophical view on this and share the full logic behind it for those who want to understand it.

Here's where I stand on supporting people in their self-diagnosis process and why.

Philosophical stance on self-diagnosis 

Societal-level view

I believe that everyone deserves access to self-understanding and that the current structure of the medical system and diagnostic process creates barriers to that access for those with neurodevelopmental conditions. 

I also believe that with the right knowledge about how neurological conditions are diagnosed, a person with the condition, living inside the brain and body of a person with the condition, is uniquely capable of mapping their internal experiences to the external manifestations defined as part of the condition by the medical system.

I do not believe self-diagnosis replaces formal diagnosis and I don't believe it is automatically more accurate, however I do believe that with access to the right educational material, many undiagnosed autistic people can reasonably assess themselves and come to an accurate result.

This curriculum is that educational material. It is designed to provide autistic people with access to formal diagnostic criteria, language, and considerations so they can make sense of their own internal experiences and neurology. 

Self-Identification and self-diagnosis for the vast majority of autistic people is a journey with one goal... self-understanding. 

I believe this is the most effective moral and ethical way to provide access to that self-understanding. 

Philosophical stance on self-diagnosis

Individual-level view

For those seeking self-identification and self-diagnosis, self-understanding is not the end goal, support is.

By definition of the condition itself as established in the diagnostic manual of mental disorders (DSM), autistic people require support.

But a person can't effectively seek support if they don't understand what support they need.

Self-identification and diagnosis puts a person's struggles into a construct that comes with...

- Understanding *why* their brain works differently 

- Understanding *how* their brain works differently 

- Understanding what challenges often show up for people with similar brain wiring 

- Understanding what kind of support often helps people with similar brain wiring challenges 

- Understanding where that support exists

- Understanding how to access that support

For many undiagnosed autistic people, the process of self-identification / self-diagnosis provides partial elements of all of the above.

I believe it is morally and ethically correct, and philosophically aligned with how the diagnostic manual discusses autistic support needs and limitations of the diagnostic process itself, to provide structured support for undiagnosed autistic people to access that knowledge more completely. 

This curriculum is designed to do that. 

It is not just an educational system. 

It is a *support* system. 

Built for the learning needs of neurodivergent brains. 

It is educational support designed to help undiagnosed autistic people access a world of meaningful, practical, and potentially life-changing support.