Aggression may be a form of resistance, but it may also be a panic response to overwhelming anxiety.) For example, pushing someone or throwing something away hitting or kicking biting.
an internal demand (for example willing yourself to do something, or bodily needs such as hunger or needing the toilet).a direct demand (an instruction, such as ‘brush your teeth’, ‘put your coat on’ or ‘complete your tax return’).On this page we aim to present a range of views and the best available information gathered from lived experience, research and professional practice (you can read more about how these pages are developed on our Advice and guidance content process page).īelow are some examples of the ‘demands of everyday life’ that a person experiencing demand avoidance may resist (note that the demand does not need to be something unpleasant to trigger distress): However, here we use demand avoidance to mean the characteristic of a persistent and marked resistance to 'the demands of everyday life’, which may include essential demands such as eating and sleeping as well as expected demands such as going to school or work.Īlthough demand avoidance is widely acknowledged as a characteristic experienced by and observed in some autistic people (and potentially other neurodivergent, but not autistic, people), there is very little research into it and the research that does exist is generally of a low quality.īecause of this, many aspects of demand avoidance – including how it is best defined and identified how common it is why it happens and support strategies for someone experiencing it – are under-researched and often contested. Everyone experiences ‘demand avoidance’ (resistance to doing something that is requested or expected of you) sometimes.