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Comment by Balgair | Hacker News Reader

I'm confused, what makes 'autistic burnout' any different than regular 'burnout'? The stories linked in the post seem to be just describing burnout, though I've not clicked into the linked pages. What am I missing that makes autistic burnout different?

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Autistic burnout is partially a result of pretending to be "normal" around other people (those who don't understand and judge autistic behaviour like stimming). "Normal" people can also experience this burnout if they're also pretending to be someone they are not (day in, day out).

Part of the problem is that people don't realize that everyone is on the spectrum, autism isn't a binary "property". The other, bigger, part of the problem is that there seems to be a negative stereotypical view of people with mental illnesses or just people who aren't "normal". Unfortunately autistic people fall towards that category in the current social context.

> Autistic burnout is partially a result of pretending to be "normal" around other people (those who don't understand and judge autistic behaviour like stimming). "Normal" people can also experience this burnout if they're also pretending to be someone they are not (day in, day out).

Wait, so autistic burnout is just regular burnout, but from general social interactions? I get that we're all on this autistic spectrum[0], but I think we all just get burnt out from time to time when dealing with jerks and other people in general. Is it just that autistic people get more tired from the standard social guessing game? If this is a spectrum, then where is the cut-off? Is it all self-diagnosis then?

Also, what is stimming?

Sorry for all the questions. Feel free to answer any/none of them. Thanks for the answers thus far!

[0] Also, how is the spectrum any different than just the normal range of being a human? It sounds like we've just got a new word for another normally distributed human thing, like height or hearing ranges.

> It sounds like we've just got a new word for another normally distributed human thing

I was trying to find some stats on the distribution myself, but couldn't find anything. All the data that's easily searchable is about people who have ASD :/

> Is it just that autistic people get more tired from the standard social guessing game? If this is a spectrum, then where is the cut-off? Is it all self-diagnosis then?

I guess so, I'm no expert on this myself, just know that I'm relatively high on the spectrum, but below this "magical" threshold you mention. From personal experience most social interactions for me are very tiring, especially around non close friends/family. However I can't comment on whether this is normal for most people since I've always been this way. I self-diagnosed myself through literature and a few online tests, but it's obviously not as accurate as a real diagnosis done by a professional. You can try to self-diagnose, but you obviously have to take the results with a bucket of salt.

>Also, what is stimming?

Short for stimulating. Basically engaging your senses to make yourself feel calmer/more comfortable. This explains it in more detail: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stimming

> Self-stimulatory behavior, also known as stimming[1] and self-stimulation,[2] is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, or words, or the repetitive movement of objects common in individuals with developmental disabilities and most prevalent in people on the autism spectrum.

... Holy Shit ... I do this all the time ... I'm autistic?

Where does one do more tests?

hahaha maybe a little, but that language is also pretty general.

This is the one I took: https://psychology-tools.com/test/autism-spectrum-quotient

And then "verified" with other random ones.

For ASD Individuals “Masking and Passing” is the primary mode of trying to “make it” in the world. It means we try to fake being normal as much as possible so folks see us and treat us as normal. This requires constant concsious thought as to our actions, our intuition and our judgement of other people and their emptional state, because we are absolutely terrible at reading other people. As an example, most people can tell the difference between if someone is excited or angry. I cannot. Anger and excitement look very similar to me. Similarly tiredness and extreme sadness looks very similar to me. So I have to constantly evaluate given other contextual clues what mental state the other person is in. This is an ongoing and very conscious process using logic and deduction. Nuerotypicals do not have to do this. You might get confused from time to time as a neurotyoical and ask someone “What’s wrong” to clarify but for us, it is a constant state of confusion. It gets fucking tiring. We spend our entire lives trying to conform to the world around us, while we are lost 90% of the time.

This by the way, is why I made the decision to “come out of the closet” and damn the consequences because for me personally, I am just done trying. It’s been a freeing experience and has given me energy I never thought I would have. The skills I’ve learned from “masking and passing” are still there and are definitely still relevant and helpful, but I just don’t put as much effort into it as I used to.

I really think that more ASD people need to come out of the closet too. We need to start demanding that the world understands us and meets us halfway. So far it’s been a one way street, and that’s just not viable long term.

They can no longer pass as a nuerotypical while they are burnt out, which I'm guessing can make things more difficult.

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