This means that ways of interacting that are often thought to be helpful for autistic people, such as being very direct and having set rules and timetables, are unhelpful for PDA'ers. Most PDA people say the demand avoidance is driven by extreme anxiety, it’s not that they don't wish to do whatever is required its more that overwhelming anxiety drives them to avoid any demands. PDA people often use social strategies to avoid meeting demands, so they appear superficially not to have the social difficulties usually associated with autism. It's generally considered to be part of the autism constellation that varies from other presentations of autism in the degree to which the person affected is unable to meet everyday demands. So what exactly is PDA and how does it affect people? Essentially it's an inability to comply with demands. ![]() Some autistic people argue that it is Rational Demand Avoidance, an assertion people who identify as having the condition strongly dispute. There is an added layer of complication in that some people who accept the existence of a condition dispute if it is part of the autistic constellation (I've used this term because I think it describes autism better than spectrum, which is often conceptualised as a 2D line going from "low functioning" to "high functioning"). This strikes me as similar to the current attitude to PDA in that PDA is recognised by some practitioners in some areas and dismissed by other practitioners in other areas. Ten years ago when I got a diagnosis ("on the Autistic Spectrum currently functioning at the level of residual Asperger's Syndrome") there seemed be quite frequent discussions on the radio questioning whether Asperger's Syndrome actually existed or if it was just an excuse used by inadequate parents for the misbehaviour of their children. Within that PDA seems to be currently the most disputed. ![]() Judging by my experience of the turnout at the National Autistic Society conferences on the subject it is however actually experienced in many familiesĪutism and neurodiversity are contested fields with many different theories and experiences vying to be accepted as definitive. PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance - you could keep the acronym and call it persistent demand avoidance which I think would be more helpful) is a condition that is not universally recognised.
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