I was diagnosed with autism when I was about four years old. About a year later the diagnosis was changed to Asperger’s Syndrome.
Pros of having a formal diagnosis:
N/A
Cons of having a formal diagnosis:
If you want to have children one day then you will face scrutiny from social services. Do not under any circumstances pursue a formal diagnosis if you are female, intend to have children and live in the UK.
If you are still in school then you might get SEN support. This means that you will receive BS therapy once in a while. It also means that your school might get extra funding if they exaggerate your deficits enough and keep you out of any gifted programs that might make you look too high functioning. If you decide not to take notes because your lessons entirely consist of the teacher reading out the contents of the textbook and you have a copy of the textbook then you may get a taxpayer-funded scribe to take notes for you. There will also be extra legal complications if your parents want to homeschool you.
You are legally protected from discrimination at work due to your autism. This is a con rather than a pro because in the Nash equilibrium nobody wants to hire you. If you end up unemployed then when you apply for universal credit you will be told that you have to apply for disability benefits instead because you have autism. Of course you are not disabled enough to qualify for disability benefits so you end up with nothing.
Once you have a formal diagnosis your qualifications have less signalling value because potential employers assume that you had extra time for your exams.
Your parents can obtain legal guardianship over you. So for example if you donate money to a charity and your parents believe that the charity is run by scammers and that all the money goes to corrupt African dictators then your parents can declare you to be incapable of managing your own finances and gain control over your bank accounts.
I was diagnosed with autism when I was about four years old. About a year later the diagnosis was changed to Asperger’s Syndrome.
Pros of having a formal diagnosis:
N/A
Cons of having a formal diagnosis:
If you want to have children one day then you will face scrutiny from social services. Do not under any circumstances pursue a formal diagnosis if you are female, intend to have children and live in the UK.
If you are still in school then you might get SEN support. This means that you will receive BS therapy once in a while. It also means that your school might get extra funding if they exaggerate your deficits enough and keep you out of any gifted programs that might make you look too high functioning. If you decide not to take notes because your lessons entirely consist of the teacher reading out the contents of the textbook and you have a copy of the textbook then you may get a taxpayer-funded scribe to take notes for you. There will also be extra legal complications if your parents want to homeschool you.
You are legally protected from discrimination at work due to your autism. This is a con rather than a pro because in the Nash equilibrium nobody wants to hire you. If you end up unemployed then when you apply for universal credit you will be told that you have to apply for disability benefits instead because you have autism. Of course you are not disabled enough to qualify for disability benefits so you end up with nothing.
Once you have a formal diagnosis your qualifications have less signalling value because potential employers assume that you had extra time for your exams.
Your parents can obtain legal guardianship over you. So for example if you donate money to a charity and your parents believe that the charity is run by scammers and that all the money goes to corrupt African dictators then your parents can declare you to be incapable of managing your own finances and gain control over your bank accounts.