Living in autistic bodies: bloggers discuss movement control and arousal regulation

Abstract

Aim We sought to deepen understanding of embodied experiences of autism by examining how autistic bloggers describe and discuss autism. Methods Working within a qualitative description approach, we sampled 40 blogs written by people who identify as autistic. We conducted a directed content analysis, applying a codebook that was generated using themes from a previous study, while remaining open to additional theme generation and elimination. Results The rich description in the blog posts support our previous finding that autism is a highly embodied experience including challenges with movement control. Additionally, we found arousal regulation (ability to maintain a calm yet alert state) to be an important embodied experience for the bloggers. Conclusions Our findings support a conceptualization of autism that sees embodiment, movement and arousal regulation as important elements of autism. Rehabilitation researchers and professionals should note that autistic insider perspectives can and must be accessed for optimal outcomes. IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION Clinicians should consider movement control (starting and stopping movement at will) difficulties as possible barriers to function for some autistic people. Clinicians should consider arousal regulation (ability to govern physiological and psychological activation level) difficulties as a possible barrier to function for some autistic people. Clinicians should be cautious when interpreting observed behaviours of autistic people and should make every effort to get explanations for behaviour directly from the perspective of individual clients.