[Concepts in Sensorimotor Research]
Newton's Law of Inertia
The general law of inertia, also known as Newton's first law of motion, states that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue moving in a straight line with a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force. This means that an object will maintain its state of motion (either at rest or in motion) unless some force is applied to change it.Autistic Inertia
In Autistic inertia we draw on those parallels to describe the difficulty that some autistics experience in starting tasks and stopping tasks, whether it with reference to their behavior, thinking or attention to task.
- An object at rest will stay at rest: This is the difficulty in starting tasks.like you are almost freezing and you need some external kickstart to achieve takeoff velocity to get that motion/task going. Some of this could be due to catatonia [post on catatonia].
- An object in motion will stay in motion: The is difficulty with stopping tasks. Once you get moving, - its difficult to end whatever you are doing, so end up in this OCD loop of repeated unproductive thoughts or action (some forms of stims are OCD too).
- other examples include difficulty with
- Transitioning between tasks,
- Adjusting body movements and thoughts to suit a new and rapidly changing environment
- Staying on task, maintaining attention
- Transitioning between paying attention/focus mode to non-attention mode which is also needed at times.
- Making decisions, planning, following through
- Anxiety, Depression
Part of your mind is aware you need to be doing starting/stopping/transitioning/planning but you are unable to initiate that action and remain stuck. All of this difficulty in initiating and stopping actions is mentally and physically exhausting as your body feels at war with itself. It takes up more spoons [post on Spoon Theory] and can contribute to autistic burnout [post on autistic burnout].
Causes
Autistic inertia can be caused by a number of factors, including sensory overload, motor-apraxia, movement-issues, body-coordination issues, executive dysfunction, and anxiety.
Autistic inertia can make it difficult to complete tasks, meet deadlines, and maintain a job or school schedule. It can lead to autistic burnout [post on autistic burnout]
The flip side is that this inertia can also help with hyper-focus which is an advantage in terms of learning a specific area.
Misconceptions
- Autistic inertia is often misunderstood as laziness, non-compliance, task avoidance, lack of effort or due to lack of motivation.
- Many of these concepts in autism and neurodiversity are often though to apply to only those who have low/no support-needs. Spoken communication ability is not linked to inertia. In fact inertia may be even more complex in autistics who have movement-disorder-like-issues, apraxia, sensory dysregulation and body coordination challenges.
What can we do to help
- Put external assistances in place where possible to ease transitions. Whether its a reminder from others or something that you can put into place on your watch or calendar depending on context. And the amount and intensity of assistance varies from individual to individual.
Related Terms: A Chara , Allistic, Aspie, Atypical, Autistic Burnout, Autistic Inertia, Catatonia, Crip Time, Critical Disability Studies, Disability Justice Movement, Disability Rights Movement, Disability Eugenics, Feeble-Minded, Imbecile, Inspiration Porn, Masking/Camoflauging, Microaggressions, Neurominority, Ofa Ahi Latu, R-Word, Savant, Spoon Theory, Takiwatanga, Trains, Ubuntu, Ugly Laws, Upstander