Autistic precision. People keep asking for examples of autistic needs. Here you go. Here’s a really good example of an autistic need that most people don’t understand.

Our brains don’t just WANT precision. We NEED it. 

When things are imprecise, it shakes our internal coherence. It gives us anxiety. Overwhelming anxiety a lot of the time. And it paralyzes us mentally. 

We don’t correct because we want to annoy people. We correct things that our nervous systems interpret as a threat. Because we rely on our internal coherence for survival.

As autistic people, most of us have experienced mistreatment for not understanding the world around us. 

For responding or behaving “incorrectly” or “inappropriately” before we were ever explicitly taught the “rules” that define what “correct” and “appropriate” even are. 

So, as we learn the hard way what those “rules” are, each hard-earned lesson becomes etched into our mental model of the world, which then becomes a CRUCIAL part of our internal coherence. 

No matter how small it may seem to others.

Which is why we rely on our internal coherence for survival. 

And why what others see as excessive and nitpicky, our nervous systems see as absolutely necessary.

I understand how annoying this can feel to others (even other neurodivergent people). 

I’m not suggesting that autistic people can’t or shouldn’t work on this. I think there is a fair and healthy balance that can be achieved for both people in a conversation where this shows up. 

But I think it’s important that people understand what’s actually happening inside our brains and bodies when we correct others.

Because it’s part of what makes our autism a social disability. 

We’re not just being annoying. We have brain wiring differences that cause internal NEEDS that we can’t magically make disappear. 

And I really wish more people understood this. 

If you’re autistic, I’d love to know what you think of all of this.

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