It feels like some people just say things these days. Research shows that autism and ADHD are highly comorbid, I forget the exact numbers off the top of my head but they're something like ~50% of autistic people having ADHD, and ~20% of people with ADHD having autism.

So then you grow up as autistic and/or ADHD person which creates a lot of social friction and conflict in your life, you're called lazy, careless, difficult, overly sensitive, and this is particularly bad if you're undiagnosed. You don't fit in socially so you develop social anxiety (this is par for the course), and after a while that can spiral into depression or even a personality disorder, you might start to self-medicate which can turn into a substance use disorder, and ultimately people afflicted by these disorders are taking their own lives at alarming rates. You should look up statistics for suicidal ideation among children and adults with autism for a reality check.

Most of this can be prevented if those affected were diagnosed and offered support as early in life as possible.

So no, having ADHD and autism, two very closely related neurodiversities, and then developing anxiety as a result of that is not at all unusual.

This has been my experience, it’s not very convincing and doesn’t give me confidence in the field.

The real question should be how many false positives does ADOS-2 produce? (The gold standard of autism diagnosis)

Do you think neurotypical people often go, "I would like to spend significant time and money to get an autism diagnosis"?

I don't think it's particularly common. When I went through my dx, I was really hoping for adhd because then I could get meds, but my doc and all my screenings were like, "definitely not adhd, definitely autism".

So, maybe you are seeing rising diagnosis rates and considering that too easy? If encourage you to think about why you feel this way.

Or it’s entirely predictable that those who have a set of symptoms get diagnosed with the stuff that tends to cause all those symptoms