Is Overcompensation a Factor in Autistics Who Find Chores and Cleaning to Do Wherever They Are?
A while back, I wrote a post that went viral about why so many autistic people struggle with household chores. For the most part, NTs and NDs alike agreed with my assessment and explanation.
However, there was some pushback from a few ND people who said that, not only were household chores not a problem for them, but, if anything, they did almost all of the chores in their household and would even find chores to do outside of their home.
This got me thinking a few things. One, that OCD could possibly be a factor for some, and, for others, it could also be overcompensation.
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The best way to improve communication with your autistic loved one is to understand how your autistic loved one’s mind works! Intentions, motivations, and personal expressions (facial expressions or lack thereof, body language, etc.), are often quite different in autistic people than they are in neurotypical people.
Experience a better understanding of your autistic loved one by reading books about life from an autistic perspective as well as stories that feature autistic characters. You’ll have so many “Ah ha!” moments and start seeing your autistic loved one in a different light (and you’ll have a better understanding of their behaviors, which you may have been misinterpreting up until now).
Books I recommend for a better understanding of your autistic loved one:
What I mean by that is, the autistic person had trouble with autonomous initiative (seeing what needed to be done and doing it without prompting), but was yelled at, screamed at, picked on, and/or otherwise abused until they learned to equate anything even remotely out of place with anger from others and, in order to avoid the consequences of that anger, began overcompensating by doing chores before they ever even truly became chores or found themselves cleaning and straightening even when there was really no need, or it was even seen as awkward to do.
That isn’t to say every single person on the spectrum either doesn’t do chores at all or does them all the time for these reasons, but I think it could be a factor.
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