I think perhaps there is less of an 'us vs them' mentality here in the UK because there are better support services in place and a more inclusive and less divisive society. Diagnosis (whilst still longwinded) is at least free here in the UK, with women being significantly under diagnosed comparatively with men, but also presenting with 'less severe' symptoms. I've put that in quotes because 'less severe' is a subjective judgement call that only applies from the outside. I've worked with many autistic children over the years and it is much easier to spot in males than females on presentation alone. If you have worked with severely autistic people then you will know their chances of getting married or sitting down to write an erudite article like yours are slim to minimal. They cannot self-diagnose in the same way we're talking about and the state has a responsibility to protect and care for them.

There are also other inherent problems with self-ID and those come with the complexity of human beings. Aside from people who are autistic there are plenty of other people who might benefit from self-ID and who might cause problems for themselves or others in the long run. Those with attachment disorders for example (not autistic, but not psychologically well), those with sociopathy who stand to benefit financially, covert narcissists who will wield a diagnosis as a form of control, not to mention the pressure of parents with NPD working on children to self-identify.

There are lots of psychological moving parts in the average population.

But where we do agree is that we're not getting it right at the moment. You have highlighted the lack of choice for the poor as the reason self-ID must work - I would say this is a political failure around wealth distribution. Your country would benefit from an NHS or social security net rather than insurance. It is far too inclined towards capitalism and not inclined enough towards people - odd given how your nation is 'Christian' and mine is secular (at least in practice). You guys don't really seem to care about the poor at all.

Let's give it a few months and then you and i can debate 'Self-ID and Autism' in the Panopticon if you want? https://medium.com/the-panopticon-publication

I think these discussions are interesting and people would benefit from reading both sides. You'll notice my piece generally attracts people who think like me - yours attracts people who think like you. We've both showed up to politely dissent to each other's position, neither of us is budging much but we're teasing out these ideological differences in a way that's more useful than playing to a home crowd. :o)