I've posted my opinion about the new hashtags, in the following article. I've prevented commenting directly on that article, because unfortunately the ActivityPub plugin makes a mess of it, when you have replies to replies.
(Actually... I'm not sure whether the plugin will prevent people from commenting in the fediverse... oh well.)
Now that I've been around for a couple of months, I understand the history of the hashtag and I understand I'm allowed to use it.
But I do relate to the folks who have expressed concern about the word "actually". My first experience with the hashtag #ActuallyAutistic made me think: this hashtag must be from people who are trying to distance themselves from non-autistics who say they're "a little autistic" or people in general claiming to be autistic. I felt that maybe I'll be judged for using it because I'm not _actually_ autistic.
I totally understand the hesitation to split up and possibly confuse a community with an array of hashtags, but I also believe there's legitimate concerns about the word "actually" and I don't agree that a hashtag like AutisticMe has the same problem.
Seeing AutisticMe for the first time, yes, I might think "can I actually use this if I'm self-dxed?" but it doesn't carry the additional confusion of the word _actually_, which denotes that it's a group that's differentiating itself from another.
Which is exactly what ActuallyAutistic is: differentiating autistics from autistic-adjacent folks.
But the _who_ it's differentiating from can be unclear and confusing for new folks.
At the end of the day, I truly am not arguing one way or the other. I'm fine continuing to use #ActuallyAutistic, and I'd be fine using the new suggested ones. I'm just sharing my experience and thoughts.
Also to make your unwieldy hashtag worse: #SelfDxFormallyDxAndExploringAutistics 😂
@ScottSoCal
Damn, you win 🍰
@yourautisticlife @actuallyautistic