What are autistic needs? 

This is probably the most confusing part of autism because the diagnostic criteria don't actually cover this. Like, at all.

The DSM tells us what autism looks like (important note: from the outside)...

And it tells us that there are different levels of support needs within the diagnosis... particularly by discussing what lack of support looks like (again from the outside)...

But it doesn't even try to tackle what autistic people actually NEED when it comes to support. 

In other words... what autistic needs actually are.

And this is a massive gap in autism awareness. One that I'm going to try to address in this post.

But keep in mind that there's only so much I can explain in a post on social media and that there is MUCH more to it than what I'm sharing here.

With that said, before I explain autistic needs, I need to zoom out and explain human needs. 

This way I can put autistic needs into a context that actually makes sense.

So, here's how I see human needs showing up. There are...

First level needs

↓

Second level needs

↓

Third level needs

First level needs are what show up when there's a mismatch between the brain/body and the environment. (I'll explain this more in just a second)

Second level needs are downstream.

They show up when first level needs don't get met.

And third level needs are even further downstream.

They show up when first and second level needs remain unmet for an extended period of time.

Third level needs are the *compounded effect* of long-term unmet needs on the nervous system. 

To put this into concrete terms, here's an extremely simple example of how this can look.

Let's use one of the most basic first level human needs... 

Sustenance. 

If a person can't eat, let's say for half a day, or even a day... this usually results in dysregulation and distress, which causes things like anxiety, irritability, distractability, and a slew of other physical and mental responses. 

These responses are now second level needs... because the system needs to get back to being regulated. 

So the second level need is whatever will get the system regulated again.

So...

Needing to eat is the 1st level need, and

↓

Needing regulation is the 2nd level need

But let's say the person can't eat for a week... or even two.

The compounding affect on the system will cause it to decline.

Things within the body will stop functioning properly.

Health issues will show up (mental and physical). Often significant ones.

These health issues are third level needs.

Because now the system needs the health issues to be addressed as well.

But let's say the person finally gets food after 2 weeks...

Their first level need is now met, but they're not back to baseline because there are residual affects on the system from the need going unmet for so long.

And this is where trauma shows up as yet another third level need.

(As an aside, trauma can be caused by many other things as well, but this explains one specific, extremely important pathway to trauma.)

To be clear, this is a WILDLY simplified explanation of human needs... but this is my human needs framework in a nutshell.

Now, let's talk about how autistic needs fit inside this framework. 

Because though autistic needs are even more complex and nuanced than average human needs, the framework makes them MUCH easier to understand.

So, let's start with a 1st level autistic need.

This is what shows up when there's a mismatch between the brain/body and environment.

To keep it simple for this post, let's go with sensory needs.

Now, to be clear, all humans have sensory needs.

What makes this autism-specific is that we have more extreme sensory sensitivities than most nonautistic people.

This is because our brain wiring creates more extreme sensory responses to sensory inputs than nonautistic people. 

So... sensory regulation is a 1st level autistic need. 

And if, hypothetically, that need were always able to be met, we'd never experience 2nd and 3rd level needs related to it.

But let's say, in a real life scenario, we can't get that need met.

Then, we immediately move into 2nd level need territory. 

Now, we're dysregulated... and then distressed if we can't get the need met extremely quickly.

Now, let's say the sensory need stays unmet for several months. 

This is where health issues start to show up. 

This actually happened to me.

I was in a situation where I was constantly being triggered by a high pitched musical instrument. And it went on for several months. 

This led to me having a life threatening heart event. (Stress-induced cardiomyopathy)

This was literally the downstream impact of my long-term unmet sensory needs.

Now, here's where my framework really starts to matter...

Because the diagnostic criteria for autism in the DSM treat observable behaviors AS autism. 

As far as the DSM is concerned, autistic BEHAVIORS are autism... not autistic brain wiring. 

Because that's how autism is diagnosed. By observing behaviors.

And because of this, the diagnostic criteria confuses what autistic needs actually are. 

Because NOTHING in the diagnostic criteria directly points to a 1st level brain wiring need. 

Every one of the criteria point to 2nd and 3rd level needs.

Example, rigidity.

This is mentioned in the DSM in one of the restricted repetitive behaviors criteria. 

But rigidity... is not autism. 

Autism is what CAUSES the rigidity WHEN THERE IS A MISMATCH between the brain and the environment.

Rigidity is the RESULT of the brain not getting what it needs.

Which is what makes it point to a 2nd level need.

So if rigidity is downstream from a 1st level need, what is the 1st level need that causes it then?

And this is where it gets complicated, yet again.

Because rigidity can actually be caused by a number of 1st level autistic brain wiring needs.

I'll give a couple of examples to make this easier to understand. I know what I'm sharing is... a lot...

Ok, so example 1...

My rigidity can be caused by my sensory sensitivities. 

I can be EXTREMELY rigid about what I do, where I go, what I eat, HOW I eat... all as a protective response to what my nervous system sees as a threat to my physical (sensory) safety.

Ok, example 2...

My rigidity can also be related to my need for internal coherence. 

This is something a lot of autistic people need that I rarely see talked about.

It has to do with the way we process information when making sense of the world around us (this relates to bottom up processing).

As an autistic person, I have a VERY carefully and thoroughly defined mental model of the world. One I spent 42 years painstakingly building. 

I did this by pulling in, analyzing, and carefully integrating countless pieces of information to make sense of the world around me.

So when someone says something that doesn't make sense in the context of that mental model...

My nervous system instantly kicks into protection mode, which can show up as rigidity if I'm not extremely careful. 

(And by extremely careful, I mean... mask my autism... which uses up a LOT of bandwidth... but that's another story for another post).

I'm going to have to do a follow up post with more examples of 1st level autistic needs because this one is already extremely long... but I felt it was important to lay this foundation before sharing a longer list of examples so they make sense.

With all that said, I sincerely hope those of you who made it to the end of this post found it valuable.

What I shared here is not common knowledge. In fact, this framework hasn't existed before I developed it. 

This is my personal interpretation of autistic needs, and human needs in general, as a philosopher with a formal psychology degree and human learning expertise... just to put what I shared into proper context. 

More to come soon...

In the meantime, let me know if this resonated with you. 🙏🏻