Autistic people (including myself) tend to often put their needs before those of others. It can be extremely challenging when others require us to be in situations or support them in things that may not totally be in alignment with the autistic person. Even as hard as it can be to do things that are uncomfortable for us as autistic people, we can be strong if we must.

From an autistic person’s perspective, often if we are given the opportunity to make decisions as it relates to others, we would often not consider them and put our wants and desires above our own, even if it is not beneficial to the other person. When it comes to thinking about making such decisions, the first thing that often comes to mind is how it is going to involve the autistic person?

The reality is that there are going to be things in life that are going to make life for the autistic person uncomfortable and inconvenient. They are not going to want to do things that they are not going to enjoy or that makes it slightly uncomfortable for them like visiting a loved one in a facility or doing something that takes them away from what makes them uncomfortable.

The reality is that there are going to be things that autistic people are going to have to face where it is not going to be their number one thing to enjoy. The world cannot always be in a perfect balance where all the needs of the autistic people are met. There are going to be times when there is going to need to be compromise, including when autistic people are going to have to bring their coping devices such as headphones or whatever they need to get through a challenging situation that they may find unpleasant.

When the situation is handed to someone that is already challenging, it is not a time to make things more challenging by being more argumentative with the one that needs the autistic person to be there for or with them. It may require the autistic person to step a little more out of their comfort zone and do things or be in environments that are uncomfortable for them. It is important to remind the autistic person to be their best and speak up when they feel uncomfortable or do not understand something along with understanding while they are cognizant of their needs, that of others are at times more important at the moment and that they (the autistic person) need to do whatever they can to cope with the situation in the best manner that they can.

It is important to be understanding of the autistic person’s needs however they must also understand that they cannot always be the top priority in the chain of needs as all in the various units have various needs in the hierarchy of needs and that it is important that all needs are met in the way in the proper hierarchy that meets everyone in the best ways.