Autistic inertia: Can’t start – can’t stop

Another problem autistic individuals experience is ‘inertia’ (Dekker 1999) – difficulty in starting, stopping, planning and changing activities. Initiation difficulties are often physical: despite knowing what to do (and how to do it), they just cannot start doing it… but once they start, they find it hard to stop until they finish. Alternatively, some autistic individuals may have difficulty persisting at a task and move quickly to other things. Read more: https://www.olgabogdashina.com/post/autistic-inertia

Update 19.11.23: Rapaport H et al. (2023) ‘ 'I live in extremes': A qualitative investigation of Autistic adults' experiences of inertial rest and motion.’ – https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37776056/

Update 22.11.23: Greaves-Lord K et al. (2023) ‘Clinical stance on response initiation in autistic adults: co-creating an integrative approach based on theory and lived experiences to act from language, via motor movement to wellbeing.’ – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10539615/