The Autistic self: living in constant transformation
By Helen Edgar and David Gray-Hammond · From the Re-Storying Autism workbook, Module 1
We describe the Autistic Self as always being in motion, shifting with every experience. Everyone changes as they interact with the world for Autistic people, whose sensory and emotional landscapes are often more intense, more porous, and more dynamic than others, this can look like inconsistency and dysregulation. It is society that often deems what we see as expected and normal. What looks like “inconsistency” to non-Autistic observers is often the natural fluidity of a nervous system shaped by:
- Sensory overload
- Rapid shifts in environmental safety
- Trauma from years of behavioural correction
- Masking
- Burnout
- Relational ruptures
- Deep, monotropic pull of interests and passions
Some people expect children to have fixed personalities and that they “should” behave the same way across contexts. However, Autistic identity is more fluid. Autistic people have spiky profiles that flow, bend, flood, and recede depending on what the environment demands or allows. Our skill set is more likely to be specialised, with significant skills in one area of our lives, but more pronounced challenges in other areas. Our ability to access those more specialised skills is also subject to our current state of well-being and the environment around us. This means that needs can change throughout the da,y and what works one day may not work the next due to energy levels and the space the person is in. Understanding the Autistic Self means embracing this fluidity as a natural part of oneself and adapting the environment to meet needs rather than trying to fix or change the person, as this will only lead to masking and burnout.
Keep going in the course
This is a short extract. The full lesson in Module 1: Understanding Autistic Experience includes the video teaching, the rest of the workbook text, reflection questions for parents, carers and Autistic people, and progress tracking.