The Holidays can be challenging for autistic individuals, including myself. The Important part is being able to manage yourself properly so that your reactions, triggers, or overload to do not cause displeasure in others. It may also require you to do some unorthodox things that may not be seen as socially acceptable by others.

There are many challenges with the holiday season for autistic individuals including schedules being uprooted, excessive overstimulation, overcrowding, excessive smells and so forth. Our reactions as autistic individuals can at times come across to those who may not be aware of our needs as being rude or unwilling to accept a nice gesture, thus causing unpleasantness among all in the room.

It is important to have a delicate balance of activity among one’s holiday activities, among having accommodations for those with sensory challenges. Some of those have a designated quiet area where one can go when they become overloaded. However, there will come a point when that may no longer work, and an exit may be necessary. It is important to have an alternative exit plan knowing that you may need to leave an event earlier than expected should the breaks no longer are helping. It is also perfectly acceptable should you know that something may be too much and there will be no way to relieve your sensory overload that you will have to regretfully decline an extended invitation to a gathering, especially if it can cause unpleasantness to those who all may not be aware of your needs.

To reduce noise pollution, it may be necessary for some autistic individuals to wear headphones. It may be seen as rude or inappropriate when they do so as it can seem to others around them that they are ignoring the celebration. However, this can be a great coping mechanism to be able to cope with the influx of noise pollution that can come from a variety of sources that when they care mixed together can cause very intensive overload for an autistic person to be able to tolerate.

 While the holidays may be all about the food and the diverse items that can only be found on holiday occasions, there must be a delicate balance of acceptance as to whether it can be tolerated by the autistic individual. It can be abrasive to ask hosts what will be offered, but if you know what the hosts quite well and it has the traditional slue of items that are continually offered, it can also be helpful to contribute items that you may know would be the only possible thing that one would eat so you know that they too can join and be a part of the celebration just as much as all other guests.

Some gatherings do have games as part of the celebration. Sometimes there is a willingness to participate and there are times where there will be a vehement denial, there should be no coercion or force to participate, especially if it would cause oneself to build themselves towards having a meltdown or reacting negatively towards others. Games can too be overstimulating and cause excessive sensory overload and greatly fuel the time clock of the ability to overly participate in the event overall.

Overall, after the conclusion of any holiday gathering, there will likely be a need for the autistic individual to have their own time upon arrival at home to recharge from the excessive overload. Please do not discount this need. Allow them to be as comfortable as they need to be and allow them to relax as what they been through an intensive situation that had many unpleasant factors that they had limited ability to control the environment and stimulus around them. Breaks such as this are essential for their ability to cope with the challenges that they had previously faced.

It costs nothing to be kind, and that is what we as autistic individuals often want, just to be treated kindly, respected and accepted for our uniqueness and challenges that we face along the way.