Greetings Earthlings! 🙂
No, I’m not talking about weddings this week (although that is indeed where my brain went to after I heard about this concept)! Autistic elopement is when an autist leaves a safe space without permission or without telling anyone where they are going. This is usually triggered by sensory overload and the need to get away from stressors. Other times elopment may be triggered by a pull towards a specialist interest, or a drive to run away from demands like homework and social situations. It’s not a sign of bad behaviour, just a response to their environment.
As I’ve discussed previously, autists have a more sensitive fight or flight response, especially during a meltdown. If that flight response is triggered, they may elope without warning to a quiet, enclosed space like a wardrobe, a bathroom, or outdoors into an open space. Half of autists will experience elopement, and it can be very dangerous (depending on autism level) if they elope to a body of water, or into a busy street or crowd.
In my experience, elopement was generally nothing to worry about. I’d get stressed out by a situation, my brain wouldn’t be able to cope, and I’d bolt for the nearest bathroom, or run out into the middle of a field to process and recover in peace. Other times, I felt this intense drive to just run away from my problems as fast as I could to put some physical distance between them- no phone, no money, no plan, just hop the wall and keep going. Not a great experience for my parents when those ones happened.
It’s not logical, I know, but it’s a primal instinct to flee from danger, a hardwired biological response to extreme stress. Autists have no control in this scenario, it’s pure biology. I know elopement can be scary, especially when support needs are greater, but we usually just want to be left alone to decompress. Try to give autists the space to do so. They’ll come back or out of their hiding spot when their nervous system regulates again.
Hope you enjoyed this post dear Earthlings! 🙂
Have a lovely weekend!
Aoife
