advantages of official diagnosis?

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I've been reading the discussion about wrong self-diagnosis (as presumed by respective doctors) and from that I started to wonder if there's any advantage to get an official diagnosis in the first place.

Maybe there are advantages after all, in that case I'd love to hear them!

Just for you to know, I haven't been to a doctor yet, I'm still a newbie and keeping all options open at the moment.

Marco

Advantages of a fomal verification of what you know already via a diagnosis are great: If you need mental health care, you can find a professional skilled with AS. You can find support groups for AS. You won't be mislabeled with a mental illness. Family members will have to accept your condition or begin the process of doing that.

If you can't work, you may be eligible for SSDI. You may also be eligible for other programs, like I am. If you can't drive, some programs give you rides places. I got free living room furniture (which is very nice!) because I'm on SSDI.

From my observations:

PROS:
1. You get understood better at work and school
2. More benefits at work and school
3. You will actually feel like you have AS rather than just being self- labeled unofficially (AKA: You will feel special)
4. People will be able to accomidate you better rather than having no accomidations at all
5. You will not be mistaken for a foolish neurotypical who likes to break certain rules
6. Most people don't believe you until you get a diagnosis

CONS:
1. Expensive
2. If you're too old and you're functioning fine at work or school, a diagnosis is probably unnecessary unless you can't function right
3. It could take more than one day for a diagnostic test
4. You can't go into a diagnosis without expecting to get diagnosed with other things (it's very common to get multiple diagnoses that go along with AS), such as Bipolar, ADD, ADHD, OCD, Anxiety Disorder, and Scizophernia
5. You could get misdiagnosed with the conditions listed in Con #4

Hope that helped!

Another Con: It becomes much harder to get health insurance if you don't already have it.