Tips for advocating during Autism assessment journey

I agree with a lot of what was said by Finches_wishes . But also be prepared to be asked why you're seeking the diagnosis. For me, I wanted to be diagnosed because then I could find more community/people to relate to, along with tips and tricks to help me adapt to living in a world built for neurotypicals.

What I’ve found best is that even if you don’t have some of the “defining symptoms” it’s best to explain to your provider or assessor that you’ve been living your whole life without being diagnosed or having certain things in place to help you and in not having those in place you’ve adapted to behave or mask in a “normal” way. You’ve changed your mannerisms and thought process to better fit the world around you. This is why autism can sometimes very undiagnosed in the adult world because we’ve adapted to what society deems as a “socially acceptable response”