After seeing the thousands of tags and comments:
1. Yes this is real. And no, this is not limited to the US. Many other countries around the world subject autistic people of all ages to these same mistreatments, you just never hear about it. Government doesn’t WANT you to hear about it because they don’t want autistic people to have the same rights as everyone else. This is why self dx is ALWAYS valid if you’re autistic. This is why nts should always support and BELIEVE autistic people
2. Some people pointed out that even when you get a diagnosis, some employers/schools/etc don’t consider you “autistic enough” to need the accommodation or take you seriously, so you essentially get it for nothing; sometimes you sacrifice basic rights for accommodation you really need, and they still may not even give the accommodation to you. This is also why words like “high functioning” and “low functioning” are very damaging to autistic people because if I’m diagnosed autistic but a university labels me as “high functioning” because I don’t “seem that autistic” then I’m not seen as worthy of assistance I desperately need and my asks for help are ignored. But when they want to bar me from accessing something, suddenly they say I’m “too autistic” to use it properly. Functioning labels cater to the interests of industries, systems, and institutions who wish to control which services and rights they think an autistic person is worthy of, and their use severely impacts anyone looking for accommodation
3. People saying “they can’t fire you for being autistic. File a claim with the government,” I know you mean well, but governments in most parts of the world throw out/glaze over disability cases ALL the time. It that illegal? Yup! But does it still happen? Yup! Businesses fire autistic people all the time for autistic traits and say the reason was unrelated to being autistic and gaslight us if we try to file a claim. If people in power cared at all about us, we would not be terrified on a massive scale of being diagnosed because we know for some people—especially those from marginalised groups—it can mean never having the same rights or treatment as anyone else ever again if someone sees we have an official dx. It is 2021 and we are STILL getting treated like animals and infantilised due to having a diagnosis and it is completely unacceptable
4. Even if your diagnosis never has created problems for you, even if you’ve never personally seen it around you, neglect of autistic people due to someone seeing their diagnosis happens ALL the time. Always remember to look outside your own experiences.
5. I mentioned it in my tags but when you get a diagnosis for school/work/legal services for the “proof” you need for their assistance policy or financial aid, often times the only “proof” they use it for is to support you being suddenly unable to do anything. We use the diagnosis to get financial aid only to be told you are not allowed to earn a livable income or have any more than a little bit of money in your bank accounts at any given time or else you get punished. Insurance companies hike up our rates. Doctors suddenly think all of our medical issues are caused from being autistic or we must be “confused” and refuse to take us seriously. Instead of using it for accommodation, schools use it to disrespect me, my limits, and my needs and assume I will perform poorly instead of providing simple assistance that would allow me to succeed. Work uses it to back up why I’m unfit for tasks I was just doing fine a moment ago or why I deserve less hours when they should instead be accommodating of me and not treating my basic needs like a burden or avoiding talking to me. In the US, it is legal for some companies to pay autistic employees less than half than the minimum wage, some paying less than $1 an hour, some pay as little as 14 cents an hour.
6. And yes, an autism diagnosis, if seen by some adoption agencies, can cause them to deem you unfit to care for a child or restrict your right to adopt in certain countries
7. This is not even the tip of the iceberg to potential risks of diagnosis
It’s up to the individual whether or not they want to seek diagnosis if they didn’t already receive one younger. For some people, a diagnosis considerably improves their life and provides many benefits! Others find their life considerably more difficult than they did before receiving a dx. While this comic isn’t meant to scare anyone, it is meant to bring attention to an frightening issue I never really see anyone discussing when the topic of diagnosis comes up and I’m glad to see people are actually boosting the info
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