Confidentiality of Diagnostic Paperwork

Posted on 07/10/2021 by Autistic Goblin

This oddly enough comes up a lot especially in advocate spaces. There is always some misguided person demanding to see the diagnostic paperwork from an advocate in order to prove that they are autistic. However they have NO legal right to it as it’s protected under the law.

However even when someone has NO legal right to the information, people still try to bully them into providing it, which shows a sense of entitlement over another human being and their health that is frankly quite disgusting.

After posting that bully’s comment, there was no surprise that I then got someone trying to defend them, claiming that showing a cover sheet of your diagnostic paperwork was required instead. They also tried to make the claim that the cover sheet is the same as a professional licence. On my page I had originally edited out their name but when they told me that they had four other accounts bother me with.. well I stopped being nice and editing out their name.

A person checking for Gas/Hydro usually just shows an Employee ID card..not a licence.

An example of a Company’s rules to protect the public from scams, It’s an Employee card not a licence.

The person coming to check the gas at your house by law has to show the company’s ID card that they are given. Cops also have to identify themselves (UNLESS they have what is commonly known as a no-knock warrant) . The difference between the two seems to escape this person so I’ll be clear.

A cover sheet on your diagnostic paperwork is legally considered part of your confidential medical record, and you don’t have to show that to anyone ever, the choice is yours. A professional license or employee ID card are subject to different laws.

An advocate is NOT legally obligated to show random people on the internet any part of their diagnostic paperwork. When I pointed out that there are human rights advocates out there that advocate for human rights with no paperwork at all to prove their human, I was told that I was being silly. Clearly the person couldn’t see the logical connection between their argument, and the logical conclusion I drew if we carried that over to other advocacy work.