|| First published: | Last edited: || 📚🕒 Reading Time: < 1 minutes Autism is a neurovariety that affects how an autistic person communicates and interacts with their environment.
It is diagnostically characterized by challenges in social interaction, communication, and repetitive or restrictive behaviours. However, many of the traits included in the diagnostic criteria are often simply how an autistic person experiences distress when their needs are not met and they are not supported by adaptations.
Autistic socialising and communication may look different from neurotypical interactions, but the autistic way is not “worse” or “problematic”, it’s just different.
No two autistic individuals are the same and they have varied strengths and traits. Autistic individuals typically experience difficulties in understanding and responding to inferred social cues, and they may have a preference for routine, prefer direct and clear speech, and are comforted by predictability.
Many autistic folks have sensory sensitivities and struggle with executive dysfunctions.
The disabling aspects of autism can be greatly reduced by accommodations, adjustments, and creating a more accessible and less ableist society.
Can you have both Autism and ADHD?
Yes. Autism can co-occur with ADHD (often called AuDHD), and it can also overlap with other Specific Learning Difficulties.
Are autistic people intellectually disabled?
Autism is not an intellectual disability. Few autistic adults have intellectual disabilities1, but autism is highly prevalent in intellectually disabled people.
Related terms
Autistic burnout
Autistic burnout refers to a state of physical, mental, and emotional exhaustion experienced by autistic people. It is a result of prolonged exposure to overwhelming sensory, social, and cognitive demands, often in an environment that does not accommodate their needs.
Masking
Masking is a partly unconscious effort to hide or suppress the manifestations of your neurodivergence. It is an exhausting process that many of us do to "fit in" more. Many people start to mask to avoid abuse, discrimination, bullying, harm and ableism.
Stimming
Stimming (also known as self-stimulating) is a common sensory-seeking neurodivergent behaviour. It means stimulating yourself in a repetitive manner to self-soothe, regulate, or express excitement. Stimming is common both in ADHD and autism.
Stimming movements, however, are common in all human beings. Everybody stims, whether it’s chewing the end of a pencil while you think, swaying back and forth to the rhythm of the music while you’re standing in line, or swinging your legs when they can’t touch the ground.
Sensory meltdown
A feeling of immense distress, a sensory meltdown is a strong reaction to overwhelm caused by too much information, noise, sights or sounds, smells or touch.
Hyperfixation
Hyperfixation is a term often used in the context of neurodivergent individuals, particularly Autistics and ADHDers. It refers to an intense and prolonged focus on a particular subject, topic, or activity, often at the price of excluding everything else.
Executive dysfunction
Executive functions are essential, they help us make plans, stay organized, pay attention, and keep our emotions in check. It plays a big role in making decisions and adapting to new situations.
Executive dysfunction can happen when these processes have some impairment.
Emotional dysregulation
Emotional dysregulation refers to difficulty in effectively managing and controlling one’s emotions. It is characterized by intense, unpredictable, or seemingly disproportionate emotional responses that may be challenging to regulate or modulate.
When someone has difficulty regulating their emotions, they are easily overstimulated and they can get upset or overwhelmed easily. On the other hand, they can also have trouble with calming down, relaxing, or decompressing and it takes much effort to regulate their mood.
Emotional dysregulation can also lead to sleep difficulties. Creating helpful routines, focusing on self-compassion, and giving yourself space for unmasking and stimming can help with this process.
Autistic speech patterns
Autistic speech patterns refer to unique ways autistic folks communicate or use language, but these patterns can also be present throughout the neurodivergent spectrum.
Autistic speech patterns include
– echolalia (echoing what you or others say),
– palilalia (repeating your own words or phrases),
– scripting (planning what you’ll say),
– verbal stims (using words to stim)
– and vocal stims (using sounds to stim).
Allistic
The term allistic refers to people who are not autistic. Neurodivergent and neurotypical people can both be allistic if they are not autistic.
Alexithymia
Alexithymia is the inability to assign names to feelings, describe them to others or talk about them. It is considered a separate neuropsychological condition but has significant overlaps with autism.
