[UPDATED] CHAPTER 2: WHY SELF-IDENTIFY

160,000 years of autistic humans, 100 years of the word: why history, bias, and data all point to self-diagnosis as legitimate.

“Self-diagnosis is valid” can sound radical until you look at the history. Autism as a word has only existed for about a century, and for most of that time it’s been defined through narrow, biased, and constantly changing medical lenses. For the first 160,000 years of autistic existence, there was no term at all—and yet autistic people innovated, survived, and built communities. The modern medical model, by contrast, has misdiagnosed, excluded, and pathologized us. This chapter explains why autistic self-identification isn’t just legitimate, it’s often more accurate than a rushed evaluation by an allistic professional.

Angela shares her own research comparing self-identified and medically diagnosed autistics and shows that their traits, test scores, and lived realities are nearly identical. Masking, trauma, and systemic bias often skew clinical assessments—but you know yourself better than any stranger in a one-hour appointment. That doesn’t mean medical diagnosis is never useful: legal protections, services, and accommodations sometimes require it. But the real shift comes from inside. This chapter will help you understand why trusting yourself matters more than chasing external validation, and why claiming autistic identity for yourself is the first step toward belonging.