My goal as an autism advocate is to transform our view of autism to a stress adaptation rather than seeing it as a disorder. Viewing autism as a stress adaptation has the potential to clear up many controversies. It would also explain my amplified experiences and the pervasive nature of how this early, or pre-life, stress re-wired my brain. Seeing autism as a stress adaptation changed the approach I took to balancing my behaviors. Instead of seeing them as character flaws to be admonished, I found ways to balance my stress, learn cues I had been missing, nurture my sensory needs, and build my stress resilience. Furthermore, this new view of autism as a “stress model” will likely lend scientists and researchers insight into what seems to be a vast amount of impossibly confusing evidence.

Source: Consumer Story – Lori Hogenkamp – Advocating for Communities to Enable Adults with Autism to Thrive, Autism Research Program, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs