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restriction

harm pain prejudice touch
Written by Livia Farkas || First published: 4 March, 2025 | Last edited: 1 April, 2025 || 📚🕒 Reading Time: < 1 minute

Restriction means being prevented from moving freely or being confined against your will. It can include being held down, trapped, or having your movement controlled by others. This is particularly important for neurodivergent people, who have historically faced harmful practices where restriction was used to stop stimming, force compliance, or ‘manage’ sensory overload.

While some might claim restriction is ‘helpful’ or ‘calming,’ being forced to stay still or confined is harmful and can be traumatic.

Everyone, especially neurodivergent people, has the right to control their own movement and body. True comfort and regulation always come from choices we make ourselves, not limitations forced upon us.

Deep pressure versus restriction

Restriction is completely different from deep pressure, where you’re in control and can adjust or stop the pressure whenever you want. Deep pressure should feel comforting and releasing, like a warm hug you chose to receive.

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Related terms:
  • sensory overwhelm
  • neurodivergence
  • deep pressure
  • stimming
  • emotional regulation

About the Author

  • Livia Farkas

    Livia is a Neurodivergent Adaptation Educator with a sharp sense for simplifying complex ideas. Since 2008, she's developed 294 distinct techniques catered to the needs of clients. A total of 5058 alumni have enrolled in one or more of the 8 online courses she co-developed with Adam, offering neurodivergence-inclusive frameworks for time management, goal setting, self-care for mental health, and small-business management. Her life goal is to be a walking permission slip for neurodivergent adults. In her free time, she enjoys stickers & planners, crochet & roller skates, and running around with her pet bunny Rumi.

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