[tboyd47]

> It's not like it will make your life any easier, since accommodations are scarce to come by, an official diagnosis can come with significant discrimination, and if you made it this far, it doesn't feel like a great way to spend your resources.

These reasons and others are why I do not believe the rise in autism is due to a change in diagnosis. There are very few incentives to getting a diagnosis and so many obstacles. It also doesn't take into account that many autistic children have their diagnosis dropped as adults.

[larve]

Diagnosis criteria have definitely gotten broader, and plenty of adults go through with it (I probably will) just to not feel self-conscious about the "self-diagnosis" thing. There is a lot of upsides to framing yourself as autistic, as it makes navigating the world so much easier. These better diagnosis standards, along with better accomodations for autistic people (vs just brutally forcing them to conform) is what made life so much better for my nephew, for example.