Eva Sheils

‘Repetitive patterns of behaviour’ is one of the key areas that diagnosticians look out for when carrying out an assessment for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). This can include physical stimming behaviours, highly specific interests or what I’d like to discuss in this column; adhering to routines.

When I was first curious about autism and questioning whether it aligned with my experience, this was the area I actually had the most doubt. I thought, “I might not fit this because I can be spontaneous, I hate having things completely planned out”. Even when I was getting my assessment, I was under the assumption that this category would be the category I’d score lowest on. In fact, I scored evenly across all five categories.

But when I actually think about it, enrolling in university in my undergraduate course really highlighted my need for routine and structure. For 14 years in mainstream school, my class schedules changed once a year, and everything was structured for me. I always found the transition into summer holidays tricky because I didn’t know what exactly to do with all the free time, and was constantly told that summer was the time to enjoy myself. Therefore, transitioning into university was actually quite strange. I had my schedule planned out for me and I did not have to do that extra step, and therefore I actually struggled having more control over my schedule. Things that seem relatively simple like socialising on weeknights is something I’ve only gotten used to in the past year and a half, as it was never something I had really done before.

Even during my current Master’s course it is something that I have struggled with. Having an increased and very different workload compared to my undergraduate course took a long time to get used to. This semester has been especially hard with structuring and routine. Not only with strike action disrupting all of my modules, but I had also lost my part-time work-from-home job at the start of February, which really compounded this disruption. With a week’s notice I had to prepare to have no job and fewer classes, and change a routine which really did fit very well for my university timetable and allowed me to earn money without having to expend further social energy like in a customer-facing role.

Trying to schedule job interviews and manage my course load was very stressful and it really made me realise that I am not as spontaneous as I previously thought. I may add disruptions and different activities to my routine and I have to think through every single possibility quickly, so even the differences in my routine are predictable for me. I hate things being unpredictable, so like many other autistic people I enforce little routines throughout my day that act as an anchor, which will sometimes make the more unpredictable aspects of my day easier to handle.

Eva Sheils is a Health & Lifestyle columnist at The Scoop and an MA Film student at Queen’s University Belfast

Eva Talks Autism: Structure, Rituals and Routine