Your personal Tumblr journey starts here
(tw : brief mention of faking mental health issues)
I think it's valid.
There are many people who can't access an official diagnosis of their mental disabilities for various reasons such as, poverty, being part of another marginalised group (women/poc etc), being a minor with unsupportive or unwilling parents and the list goes on. Some people simply don't want to and I get why. An official diagnosis can limit you in many ways such as travel, healthcare, education etc. An official diagnosis can also make you more prone to ableism from the government, schools and workplaces.
Either way, self diagnosis is extremely important whether you choose to pursue an official diagnosis or not.
(Side note : I don't think it matters in the grand scheme of things if someone fakes a mental disorder for attention. Of course, it is disrespectful and you shouldn't do it but people with mental disorders barely get support anyway so what would they exactly be taking away from us? Stim toys? The only thing I can think of is therapists but there aren't many that specialise in disability so 🤷 I think the only time it could be considered a bad thing is if they're spread harmful misinformation like if you're gonna fake something, at least make it believable. To be honest, I feel bad for those who fake a disorder / disability because they might be so attention starved that they would do that.)
Self-diagnoser realises they just want to be ill, immediately self-diagnoses Munchausen syndrome
If you have adhd AND autism, you know that although the symptoms can be VERY similar, they can also clash and then team up to piss you off.
Example:
ADHD: causes me to be a bit disorganized
Autism: craves order and structure
You see where this is going.
I'm bad at looking for things, but I have like five minutes to find it before I start losing my mind. I literally put my work clothes in a specific spot to avoid this, but I don't have my own room so it happened anyway because people like to move my stuff while I'm sleeping. It's always in an obvious spot, but that's the last place I would thing to check because IT'S TOO OBVIOUS.