Each person with ASD is unique and faces a different set of challenges everyday, the spectrum is wide and includes everything from high functioning individuals to individuals with learning difficulties who are reliant on others, such as parents, for all aspects of their care. Challenges faced by autistic people are as diverse as the spectrum, varying depending on their age, development stage and aspects of their presentation or diagnosis. Also challenges can be affected by other conditions they may have such as mental health difficulties, learning needs, trauma or ADHD. Due to the wide ranging nature of the spectrum and consequent challenges, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution.

To qualify for a diagnosis of ASD the individual must have deficits across four different areas: social interaction, social communication, rigid thinking and sensory processing. Having a deficit within the area of social interaction includes social situations being uncomfortable and struggling with facial expressions/body language. With social communication deficits this can include inappropriate speech which can seem rude or hurtful, taking humorous statements or sarcasm literally and general communication to others in a social setting. Rigid thinking is less self explanatory with many different challenges involved in this area, including thriving off structure and routine, uncomfortable with change or transitions, frustration due to fixed ideas, perfectionist tendencies and often can be viewed as uncooperative. Rigid thinking patterns normally lead to self-imposed routines that they like to follow, for example, sitting in the same seat, or only eating out of a blue cereal bowl along with having fixed all consuming areas of interest. One of the largest challenges faced by autistic people is difficulty with sensory processing. Typically people with autism process sensory stimuli very differently to neurotypical people and can find uncontrolled stimuli uncomfortable, frequently becoming overwhelmed by sensory stimuli (anything from noises or smell to the feeling of fabric on their skin or food they eat). In some situations they can seek out stimulation, such as deep pressure, visually inspecting objects, or engaging in some repetitive behaviours like hand flapping or spinning - this can be referred to as ‘stimming’.

When you consider these four areas the world can be challenging for people with ASD, and can lead to retraction from society, healthcare options or school. These retractions often lead to long term problems with their health or education with life long implications as such. One resource available and used by professionals, like paediatricians or psychiatrists, is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th edition (DSM-5) which was produced by the American Psychiatric Association.

It groups the challenges into two categories, the first being difficulty with social communication and the second being restricted, repetitive, and sensory behaviour or interests. It breaks these two categories down and offers examples of actions or tendencies within each. It also includes notes for the level of support required depending on the challenges they face. There has been research into the problem of children withdrawing from school, giving it the term ‘Emotional Based School Avoidance’. This is a broad umbrella term used to describe a group of children or young people who experience severe difficulty in attending school due to emotional factors, often this results in prolonged absences from school. Referring to the paper written by West Sussex Government “Children and young people with autism often face additional challenges in school which may make them anxious about school and appear to experience EBSA”. Kearney and Silberman’s review indicated to four main reasons for school avoidance.

To avoid uncomfortable feelings brought on by attending school, such as feelings of anxiety or low mood.To avoid situations that might be stressful, such as academic demands.To reduce separation anxiety or to gain attention from significant others, such as parents or other family members.To pursue tangible reinforces outside of school, such as going shopping or playing computer games during school time.

Throughout these four factors there are examples of negative reinforcement of EBSA through the first two points and positive reinforcement of EBSA through the second two points. This is another factor that we must consider when looking at challenges faced by autistic people, as additional challenges like EBSA often go hand in hand with an autism diagnosis.Quite often, challenges faced by autistic people are more obvious when the ‘double empathy problem’ is in full effect. This theory suggests that when people with very different experiences of the world interact with one another, they will struggle to empathise with each other. This is visible when autistic people try and interact with neurotypical people with the social interaction/communication challenges highlighted, when autistic people interact with autistic people the challenges are less noticeable as they can empathise and understand each other, with the communication seeming less forced or broken.

This problem can lead to neurotypical people, who have no experience with autistic people, having stereotypes and assumptions of autistic people which are often inaccurate and highly negative. "...right from the start, from the time someone came up with the word ‘autism’, the condition has been judged from the outside, by its appearances, and not from the inside according to how it is experienced”. Neurotypical people often have preconceptions as to how autistic people will behave, interact and communicate - usually being negative. Assumptions of autistic people often lead to them being treated differently or more childlike in society, already knocking them before they have any social or sensory challenges.