What Is Autistic Inertia? IN BRIEF
Sometimes, when faced with a situation, autistic people can’t find the best way to act or the right thing to say. When this happens, they can suddenly become unable to move or speak. This isn’t intentional, and it doesn’t mean the person is disoriented. They understand what’s happening, but they can’t act on it right now.
Inertia happens when an autistic person is overloaded, which causes a certain amount of confusion. An autistic person in a state of inertia will no longer be able to move. It’s not that the person can’t move, it’s that they can no longer choose which movement to make. This can look like one of the stress responses known as fight, flight, or freeze, though it isn’t quite the same thing.
Inertia in Social Situations
Autistic people interpret social interactions in their own way. Autistic people all communicate differently from neurotypical people. Over time, some autistic people become quite good at understanding how allistic (non-autistic) people communicate.
To communicate more successfully, many autistic people learn to prepare, well in advance, the words and actions they might use in social situations. Often, when the moment comes to use them, they’ll hesitate between several possible phrases or actions. If they can’t find the way of communicating that will get the result they want, they can fall into inertia. That means they stop talking and stop moving. It’s worse when the autistic person knows there will be negative consequences if they don’t find the “right” answer, the one that’s “normal” or “socially acceptable.”
Imagine having to interact with a non-player character (NPC) in a video game to advance to the next level, knowing that every possible response leads to a game over. That’s not exactly an incentive to keep playing.
Going furtherEXECUTIVE DYSFUNCTION
A state of inertia is a form of executive dysfunction. Executive functions are complex brain processes that allow us to take the right action in the right context and adjust to our environment. When a person falls into inertia, it means they’re no longer able to carry out the actions a situation calls for.
Important
A person in a state of inertia isn’t doing it on purpose. They can’t simply stop being in inertia, and it’s harmful to pressure them to do so.
An autistic person in this state feels a great deal of stress if they know there will be negative consequences. But even when they’re stressed, a person in a state of inertia still feels their body as strongly as usual, if not more so. In a calm environment, surrounded by people they trust, this state can be experienced without stress. It can even be funny to think back on afterward!
Inertia Without Stress
An autistic person might fall into a state of inertia because they can’t find a good solution to an everyday problem. For example, how do you get into the house without getting the floor or your socks wet when you’re covered in snow? If you take your boots off right away, your socks will get wet, it’ll be unpleasant, and there will be little wet sock footprints everywhere. But you can’t keep your boots on! There will be water everywhere.
In this example, choosing between saving your socks or saving the floor can take time. And quite often, the snow will have had time to melt, wetting both the feet and the floor, before the person can make a choice.
A similar phenomenon can happen for people with ADHD, since it’s also a form of executive dysfunction (see the definition above). In fact, inertia is a lot like executive dysfunction frozen in place, like a statue! And in the case of inertia, it always happens during a moment of emotional and/or sensory overload.
Inertia or Freezing?
Autistic people can also have stress responses or trauma responses. All humans, and even many other animals, share the same stress responses. To deal with danger, we can fight, flee, or freeze. From the outside, people in a state of inertia look like they’re frozen. In fact, many people describe it the same way: “I froze.” However, people who freeze in the face of danger may disconnect from their body to protect themselves. Anyone who is experiencing, or has already experienced, a traumatic event can freeze and disconnect from their body.
People in a state of inertia are not disconnected: they still feel their body, and their mind stays clear. They simply can’t find “the right answer” to keep going with what they’re doing. A person in a state of inertia perceives their environment as usual. A person who freezes during a traumatic experience will feel reality become blurry, will no longer perceive their body the way they usually do, and might even feel as though they’re outside their own body.
One day, I was in a room, and next to me there was a large stack of folding tables leaning against the wall. Very slowly, they started to slide. Really slowly. All I had to do was put my hand out in front and I could have stopped them. But watching the tables slide, I couldn’t figure out what to do next, which movement would be best to make after putting my hand there. So, caught in doubt, I did nothing, and everything ended up crashing down. The people around me didn’t understand why I didn’t react.
Since autistic people don’t perceive social information the way allistic (non-autistic) people do, an autistic person may freeze in a social situation that doesn’t seem traumatic to others.
What If the Person Disconnects From Their Body?
If you feel yourself disconnecting from your body, that’s no longer inertia. When this happens, it’s important to seek help from a psychologist. In addition, autistic people, like everyone else, can experience abuse. However, it can be harder for autistic people to recognize it, which increases their vulnerability to repeated abuse.
Important
Freezing is a signal your body sends to say it has detected danger.
As soon as the body starts moving again, it’s important to seek help from a psychologist, a social worker, or a psychotherapist. These professionals can help you understand what’s happening and find solutions to stay safe.
