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(TW suicide) i recently learned some really important information about stimming and its importance in preventing severe distress and longterm neurological damage + depression & suicidality in autistic ppl, so making a thread to share:
autistic brains differ structurally from neurotypical (NT) brains in that there are, initially, a significantly greater number of neurological connections, which causes autistic ppl to experience a far greater amount of unfiltered sensory information at all times
this can lead to distress and meltdowns if an autistic person is continually exposed to excessive sensory stimuli, and long-term this can lead to what is known as autistic burnout, a state in which an autistic person can become deeply depressed, physically ill, and effectively
nonfunctional (by NT standards), leaving them totally unable to cope. the only effective way to heal from this state is completely removing oneself from overstimulating environments for extended lengths of time. I'm talking like months or years here.
autistic ppl who experience burnout and are unable to heal have a massively increased risk of suicidality. the average life expectancy of autistic adults is 38. the leading cause of death amongst autistic adults is suicide.
fortunately, however, there is a way to avoid this! the main coping mechanism that autistic ppl have for dealing with sensory overload is stimming - repeated body movement (hand flapping, rocking), verbal repetition and vocalizations, seeking pleasing tactile sensation, etc.
stimming is, and I cannot overstate this, LIFESAVING for autistic people. it is something we need to do in order to be healthy, happy, and functional. it is how we process the world around us, communicate to others, and mediate often overwhelming sensory input.
many, if not most, autistic ppl have learned to prevent themselves from stimming publicly (this is referred to as masking), in order to avoid public shame, fear, retribution, and violence for openly presenting as and acting autistic. masking is deeply exhausting and unhealthy,
and directly causes meltdowns and burnout - and, long-term, will kill us. autistic people need to stim, we need to be able to do it publicly and without fear, shame, & embarrassment, and we need neurotypical ppl to love and embrace the way we exist and move in the world.
we need to destigmatize stimming. we need to destigmatize being loudly and publicly autistic. it is, quite literally, necessary for our survival.
(information sourced from http://youtube.com/c/neurowonderful and the episode of the Ponder & Practice podcast on autistic burnout ( http://ponderandpractice.com )
the basis of most of this information is the work of Laura Weldon, a doctor and neurodiversity advocate, who is on twitter @neuronaturopath
