Don’t Blame Autistics For Being Rigid When Someone Wrecks Their Plans

I’m sick of wearing other people’s stuff-ups as though the problem is mine

Photo by Julien L on Unsplash

If you were to ask any random non-autistic person to name traits (let’s be clear — this is not something I’m in the habit of doing) they would most likely say something about being rigid or not good with change.

While both those things are true to some extent, there’s so much more to it from an autistic perspective. The area that lies between what the non-autistic person sees and what the autistic person experiences is massive.

It’s likely that the non-autistic person has based their view on an autistic person’s reaction to a change of plans that was foisted on them suddenly by someone else. The autistic person expected something to happen because they were told it would and they arranged themselves to fit in with it.

They’re told the thing they thought was going to happen isn’t. It could be that something different is going to happen or possibly no-one knows yet what that thing is. They’re upset. They might have a meltdown.

It might look like they’re overreacting. From the outside it’s seen as an irrational, self-indulgent temper tantrum. Oh good lord what a drama queen. Just get over it, people deal…