One of the struggles that autistic individuals face is inability of knowing when to take care of things that are essential for them to be well and have their needs met. It is called Introception and is one of the hidden understandings until you get what is needed to be well.

Basically introception means the signs and signals that come from the body. This can mean things like knowing if you are sick, body temperature, tired, hungry, dehydrated, whether or not you need to clean yourself or even something as simple as using the restroom. This is moreso in the sense of hyposensitivity, where there is an inability to not recognize the necessary signals to do the essential things that need to be done in order to find comfort.

This can come from the autistic brain of not feeling hunger pangs or our insides signaling us to take care of our bodies as a result of the mind in a state of being hyper focused on a subject other than the need to eat or use the restroom. This in turn can cause things that are later on unpleasant for us like body discomfort or even having a mishap with our bodily functions because we were unable to recognize the signal to meet our needs in proper time.

This can also come from extensive periods of not doing other things like that are essential to doing things that come normal in life for all, like getting adequate amounts of sleep and rest after being overburdened with things that are just too much and running like the Energizer battery. This can come in terms of the body shaking excessively or our brains and thoughts being unclear about things or keeping on track with the things we need to do.

Throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, introception has been brought to the forefront for many of the autistic community, especially in the early days of the pandemic because often what we had known was uprooted and as the structure of the day was uprooted and therefore many in the autistic community had a lack of routine. Thankfully, with the virtual services provided by my day program early on in the pandemic it kept me busy. However, it brought a harder separation of active and inactive time to the point that it became hard to separate both.

Introception can also make it difficult for autistics to understand when they are indeed not feeling well, as such it can often be confused with feeling tired. This can make it hard to understand when we as autistic people need to just get their bedrest and the fact when and what they are actual able to communicate exactly what they are feeling to those that need to be made known. It can be often too late until something like this is recognized and it takes even longer to repair what has happened and feel better.

Sometimes when it gets too late is when the autistic person becomes irritable because our body has missed the signals to take care of things like go to sleep or eat. This comes from the brain being unable to send the signal for them to go to bed and even if the body is tired or needs nutrients or liquid, there is no understanding or recognition to do so. This is because there is no recognition to the individual to tell them what the body is feeling at that very moment because they are so hyper focused on what finds them pleasure and enjoyment. It is simply because the brian is not interpreting the need to take care of ourselves.

This can result in either extreme whereas you can not have the signal to stop or not have the signal at all This can also come to the fact where is a more tolerance level for things to be unrecognized to the point that we as autistic people need to do what is essential to make sure that we are well and taking care of ourselves.

Essentially it is important to make sure that the needs are met of the autistic individual  This may mean making reminders or task lists to know that there is an order for things to be done in a certain way or that we need to take care of ourselves. Being miserable for either the autistic peron of their loved one is no picnic by having them understand and recognize their needs is one way of making things more liveable for them.