This excerpt from research paper by Koyeli Sengupta, Srushti Gandhi and Alokananda Rudra on highlighting the importance of making autistic individuals aware of their diagnosis.
Self–advocacy is possible only when autistic individuals are aware of their diagnosis and cognizant of their strengths and differences (Shore, 2004). Knowledge about their diagnosis helps create an empowering positive autistic identity (Cooper et al., 2017, Oredipe et al., 2023) rather than fostering an image of a broken neurotypical (Almog et al., 2024). An increased understanding of one’s condition among autistic adults is associated with enhanced self-understanding, awareness, and self-compassion (Crompton et al., 2020, Leedham et al., 2020), with opportunities to belong to a community by connecting with other autistic individuals (Hickey et al., 2018, Tan, 2018).Studies also suggest that the earlier individuals know their diagnosis, the greater the association with a more positive disability identity (Corden et al., 2021) and sense of self (Oredipe et al., 2023, Smith et al., 2018), while later knowledge of diagnosis was associated with experiences of grief for the pre-diagnosis years when autistic individuals struggled and blamed themselves for the challenges. (Leedham et al., 2020).
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