We continue to have a serious language problem when discussing autism. Sarah DeWeerdt—writing, of course, for Spectrum—is not describing autistic burnout, she is describing, variously, overload and overwhelm—important states but distinct from burnout. Autistic burnout is a more all-encompassing life state, not merely the reaction/response of an autistic brain to a specific overly-stimulating circumstance, event, or situation. For a better, more informed look at autistic burnout, see Dora Raymaker’s presentation (.pdf
) on current research.