Autism and trauma: understanding trauma as an ecosystemic experience
By Helen Edgar and David Gray-Hammond · From the Re-Storying Autism workbook, Module 6
Distress must be understood ecosystemically rather than medically. Trauma, likewise, must be understood as an interaction between the person and their environment. Autistic people are not traumatised because their neurology is fragile. We are traumatised because the world is often incompatible with our neurology and innate ways of being.
Trauma is created by: - Sensory overload (lights, sounds, taste, textures, smells etc) - Communication invalidation and unmet needs - Punishment for expressing need in ways that don’t fit in - Behavioural control is used instead of relational support - Masking - The expectations of neuronormativity - Minority stress - Medical or institutional harm - Lack of access to authentic, safe community spaces - Misinterpretation of distress as defiance - Being forced into rapid transitions - Not having boundaries respected These experiences accumulate. Trauma is rarely one thing; it is many small things hitting the same sensitive system over and over again, which can lead to burnout.
Keep going in the course
This is a short extract. The full lesson in Module 6: Trauma, Safety and the Emotional Environment includes the video teaching, the rest of the workbook text, reflection questions for parents, carers and Autistic people, and progress tracking.