05/25/2026
Before I experienced skill regression & burnout as an autistic adult… I was in the best shape of my life, earning close to 100k per year working 3 jobs
In one of those jobs I was a store manager for a well known furniture company, a position that only took 6 months for me to get promoted to.
I was an award winning store manager, won numerous competitions within my district and countless awards, plaques and achieved over 10k in bonuses during my role within that company.
In this job I was extremely physical, lifting heavy furniture and delivering them to homes and apartments in which I was expected to carry heavy pieces upstairs
Here’s the thing…
people look at me today & don’t see the life I lived before I regressed & hit burnout
they don’t look at my story and see autism unsupported… they see someone who gave up.
But I didn’t give up.. I actually fought really hard.
Which is a big reason why I hit burnout.
I overdid it.
I overworked my body. I over-wore my mask. I put trauma on my brain that I shouldn’t have, but didn’t know about.
I just knew I had to “work hard for my children”
I masked my struggles until I couldn’t anymore. I lost important skills & structure that people just brush off as things everyone should know how to do consistently…
It’s like my brain over time forgot the muscle memory that was built for so many years…just suddenly nonexistent.. but it didn’t just end up like that. The loss of skill was gradual, over time.
Slowly
I became unable to work in certain environments
I started needing someone to go to the store with me
I started needing accommodating devices 24/7 like sunglasses and noise canceling headphones
I started needing someone to come with me to run the smallest errands
I started needing someone to help me organize things
I started needing someone to sit with me while I complete tasks
I started needing someone to do so many things with me.
Or remind me how things were done.
My structure… MY SURVIVAL was dependent on someone being there helping me, while I was in burnout.
Because what isn’t discussed enough about autistic burnout
Is that it’s more than just being tired
It’s more than just being exhausted
It’s your nervous system shutting down from not being able to thrive within the systems that exist.
It’s your body in a crisis that can’t be cured by high fives and feel good one liners.
It can’t be cured by tough love.
It can’t be cured by rigidity
Burnout requires a change in environment to be helpful.
To some autistic people, that could look like:
-Moving in with parents or roommates to save money and to have direct, in home support
-Switching jobs to keep your sensory overload under control better
-Switching jobs to get away from people so that you don’t have to mask
Some people can’t do this without support, especially in burnout
Some people can barely survive each day in burnout.
Burnout also requires a lot of rest. A lot of self care. And in many cases, extensive therapy.
This isn’t help that a lot of people in society are ready to give out willingly. Or, help that people even know how to give.
Or help that is accessible at all.
Do you see the problem?
Recovering from burnout is a privilege, and that concept isn’t even understood by a lot of society yet.
Watching yourself who was once extremely independent slowly need people to survive, does something to you.
It does more whenever those people don’t adequately understand and support you.
Burnout drives a lot of autistic adults to consider leaving this world
Once in a state of extreme burnout crisis, if they are unable to rest, recover and access an appropriate safe place, an autistic person is at higher risk.
There needs to be a safety net for autistic adults experiencing regression and burnout.
But there’s nothing.
Instead, we come online and we try to make our voices heard all while being told that we should be happy we can participate online
Make it make sense?
Autistic burnout in adults can be deadly, especially since autistic people are at higher risk of su***de.
High masking, late diagnosed autistic experiences matter too.
Some of us were able to build a life just to watch ourselves destroy it.
And that in itself is enough to make anyone lose their mind.
Please start listening to us.
So we don’t create another lost generation.
This is a crisis unfolding right in front of us.
And has already happened to an entire generation before us.
