When feeling overwhelmed or going through a meltdown/burnout, Autistic people might go non-verbal. Some times we might feel like we’re too tired for words. Other times we might feel like we desperately want to talk, but no words come out of our mouths. This can be very distressing for the Autistic person and whoever is with them at the moment.
I remember once I was going through a meltdown and my boyfriend was keeping me company. I desperately wanted to tell him how I felt and how to help me. My brain kept screaming at me, pushing me to talk. “JUST SAY IT! Just tell him how you feel” over and over again. Yet, I couldn’t speak; like my throat was closed and stopped working. This only added fuel to my already uncontrollable mind. I felt very frustrated.
In response to this experience, I have created a couple of images to help in these types of situations. Save them on your phone and put them in your favorites or a special folder. With these, you don’t even have to write down what you want to say. Next time you are going through a meltdown/burnout and go non-verbal, take out your phone and point to the images. I have added graphics to most of them, as they might be easier to process than written words.
Autistic burnout support images
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