Sensory Overload and Communication Challenges intensifies autistic mourning experiences - Hari Srinivasan
Showing posts with label Grief. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grief. Show all posts
Processing loss and grief is even more intense for autistics.
Another excellent and deep article from Hari Srinivasan about how loneliness, lack of support, disruption in schedules and being the child of immigrants, can make processing loss and grief even more intense for autistic people.
Coping with the reality
Can relate to every bit of this as I have seen a grandparent lose his life to cancer - a painful end followed by a phase of intense struggle to cope with the reality of what I had experienced, an experience that took nearly three years and CBT sessions for me to find closure..
Autism and Grief
https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/giving-voice/202402/the-spectrum-of-loss-grief-through-the-autistic-lens
As a daughter who lost her dad at 15, and a mother who's spent two decades raising an autistic son, I have spent way too much time thinking about grief and about autism. I haven't often seen them talked about together - though I've watched my son experience the loss of his three grandparents, and address sorrow - both his own and that of the people around him - in ways that are both typical and amazingly unique.
"Nana must be feeling lonely without Papa."
"I think Papa must be in God's sunshine."
"She was MY grandma - and I loved her."
"Mom - your dad died 40 years ago - that's a long time!"
"It's December 28th, Mom, are you feeling sad today?"
"I just realized that "funeral" has the word "fun" in it!"
A year or so after the death of both of his grandmothers, James began to implode - an onset of OCD, anxiety and depression that took over and dominated our lives for almost two years. I've often wondered if the experience of losing two women he loved - and who adored, understood and valued him - was part of what set his implosion in motion.
I'm grateful for this piece that just popped up on my feed - thank you Hari Srinivasan for sharing your insights on the experience of grief through the lens of autism.
Grief as an emotion can impact the autistic community in very different ways
Frist Center for Autism and Innovation Neurodiversity Inspired Science and Engineering Fellow Hari Srinivasan has published a new article in Psychology Today about the impact of grief on the autistic community.
In this article, Hari discusses his own moving experiences with grief after the recent loss of both of his grandparents and how grief as an emotion can impact the autistic community in very different ways.
As well as being a Neurodiversity Inspired Science and Engineering Fellow, Hari is a Ph.D. neuroscience student at Vanderbilt University, a graduate of UC Berkeley, a PD Soros Fellow, a Fellow at the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation, a non-federal member of NIH's Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, and on various boards including Duke University's ACE and The Brain Foundation. He is a Public Voices Fellow of The OpEd Project.
You can read the full article here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/giving-voice/202402/the-spectrum-of-loss-grief-through-the-autistic-lens
For those on the spectrum the range of mourning is even wider and complex
Hari, This is a VERY important piece. When our Dad died in 2017 (he was an amazing autism advocate), both my brothers on the spectrum dealt with his death very differently, and yes of course, they are very different from each other. Brother 1, who has profound IDD, had a very delayed mourning. He may have thought his father was going to come back. Finally a year+ after Dad's death, we had an additional memorial. This one reality hit him. He stopped eating, drinking, tons of crying ... it took around 6 weeks for the extreme mourning issues for him to subside. Brother 2 never once wanted to be seen shedding a tear. That had and has been very tough for all of the remaining siblings (there are six of us) and my mother to watch. So yeah, everyone of us handles grief differently. For those on the spectrum the range of mourning is even wider and complex. Thank you for sharing your wise insight and I am so sorry for your loss of both of your grandparents.
Helping Autistics adapt their approach to grief is crucial
"Understanding & helping autistics adapt their approach to grief is crucial, allowing them to process loss in a way that respects their unique experiences & needs." @HariSri108
Understudied experiences of autistics
Hari, You’re doing a truly spectacular job thoughtfully articulating so many understudied experiences that leaves expert and novice reader alike more informed, more grounded, and moved.
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