ABSTRACT
This chapter describes co-occurring challenges that occur frequently in autistic people and can have an enormous impact on their functioning and/or well-being. Furthermore, they occur more frequently in autistic cohorts than in non-autistics, and can therefore also serve as potential “pink flags” for considering whether autism is part of the individual’s profile. Co-occurring emotional challenges described include anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression, autistic burnout, emotional intensity and lability, neuro-crash, extreme empathy (and emotional disequilibrium), rejection sensitive dysphoria (RSD), bipolar disorder, self-injury, suicide, trauma, alexithymia, and pathological demand avoidance/pervasive drive for autonomy (PDA). The authors then describe cognitive differences that include attention, executive functioning, a high need for explicit context (and/or weak central coherence), spoken language, academics, slow processing speed, prosopagnosia, and giftedness. Medical/health concerns described include sleep, eating, gastrointestinal issues, dental issues, atypical reactions to medications, obesity, menstruation, menopause, motor skills (fine motor, gross motor, hypotonia), tic disorders and Tourette syndrome, seizures, migraines, autoimmune conditions, connective tissue disorders, dysautonomia/POTS, and genetic disorders. Last, but not least, the chapter describes differences autistic people may experience in adaptive functioning, gender, and attraction.
