Same here in the UK.

Maximum target waiting time is 13 weeks - AFTER you get a referral from a GP - and not all of those are willing to refer adults who are high functioning because they see it as taking a rare resource away from those more in need.

But even with that referral, 84% of people are waiting longer.

Private is possible, and 3-4 weeks, but that costs around £4,000.

Without a professional diagnosis, you won’t qualify for any assistance, either from the state or your workplace.

(I self diagnosed as autisitic in my 50s, after a childhood diagnosis of dyslexic. I now think was a misdiagnosis of autism.)

self diagnosis is valid.

I agree. And in my country, waiting lists for any professional diagnosis are extremely long, especially for adults.

It’s technically impossible, so a pretty pointless discussion.

And it’s dangerous too. Even if they legislated them off the major platforms, there’s a million other ways to communicate online. Hundreds of DMs, talkers, games, live chats, streams, even IRC still exists. And pushing them into the darker corners makes it far more likely for them to be exposed to coercive and controlling types. Extremism, child abuse, bullying, suicide encouragement and so on.

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Why is that unpopular? It’s literally the main stated purpose of most governments.

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Graveyards don’t exist for the dead.

They exist for both relatives to mourn, and the wider populace who value the perspective on their own problems that graveyards provide. They’re also normally a peaceful place in an often unpeaceful world, much as urban green spaces.

I prefer rap music by white artists because it’s less likely to feature the N word.

Of course, that depends on Trump following court orders, which as we know, he’s more than willing to ignore.

I think that’s been one of the biggest surprises to this European spectator - that justice can be ignored if you’re powerful enough in America.

We had glimpses of it with the first end-of-term pardons. Then Biden did the same for his son, and Trump released all those who committed treason in his name on his first day of his second term. All those people were fund guilt after due process, but someone can unilaterally say “let them free” and they’re out. I totally understand the lawyer quitting his career when Trump was “pardoned” for his own crimes after being elected. Biggest case of his career, years invested in training and work and he played a blinder - only for it to be turned to nothing.

So we’ve learned that if you’re rich in the US (because rich == powerful there like nowhere else in the world) then you are untouchable by justice. For a country that was literally born from a civil war, that’s a pretty huge failing of its constitution.

But apart from all that, things are looking good?

So what’s Google doing? I assume they’re impacted by the same regulation.

The UK government has you that way too - you are legally compelled to reveal any passcodes if ordered by a court, and you’ll stay in prison until you do. (Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000)

But it at least does remove them from third party exposure (phone company, their AI, massive breaches etc), you just have to be sure your own security is good.

I think it’s the right move by Apple.

I don’t think it’s the right move by my Government to be ordering this.

Like most governments, the UK’s has a poor record on understanding technical standards (They’re still trying to implement age-restriction on porn sites, something that’s been ongoing for a decade) Backdoor or lack of encryption - both make data security impossible and make the lives of criminals a whole lot easier. We simply cannot have safe data this way.