What is a Shutdown?

When I made Autism Academy this was one of the first animations I tried to make. Sadly I lost huge sections of it and so I've had to piece it together using random clips.
It's a bit jumbled, and I had a terrible microphone at the time, but hopefully, you still enjoyed it :)

I often hear people talk about autistic meltdowns, and let's be clear meltdowns aren’t exclusive to autism, but rarely do I see anyone talking about shutdowns.
In adulthood, meltdowns are still visible but they can often be more hidden: such as the person crying in the bathroom on a toilet break or a person running away. However shutdowns can be even more hidden, and that’s why I thought I’d be good to talk about them here :)

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My name's Loren Snow, and I'm an autistic public speaker and trainer and the CEO of Neurodiverse Training where myself and my team deliver training to tens of thousands of people each year about autism and neurodiversity.,

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[jayquillberry]

Shutdowns need to be discussed more. I haven't found barely any information on it. I had my 1st shutdown yesterday and had no idea what was happening. My mom tried to talk to me, and I wanted to respond, but I physically couldn't. I couldn't even move or make eye contact. I just sat in my room for an hour silently crying. I don't have autism, but I do believe I have ADHD. It runs in my family. I always assumed I didn't have it because I wasn't hyper, but I think I have the inattentive type as most of the things I struggle with my disability is finishing things on time and cleaning my room. It causes me a lot of stress and anxiety. I am working on getting diagnosed.

[shaggyjebus]

In all my research on autism, I either never came across (or totally forgot about) this term, "shutdown, " and it's a shame because it's a problem that affects be a lot. I'm so glad I came across this video! Hopefully it'll help my loved ones understand me a bit more. Thank you for making it!

[bernireed]

There NEEDS to be a video done on the effects of harassing a person in shutdown. Demanding explainations, accusing them of "being a p***y and hiding behind their asd" a coward for being unable to "step up".... yes I've had this recently happen and she just can't understand why, if i love her, i should be able to just push thru and communicate. This was non stop for hours....

[ohtgang]

My friend (who has autism and has shutdowns often enough at school) just sent me this, and i think it is really helpful! I know how to try help when she is having a shutdown now

[elennapointer]

I had what I think was a shutdown episode at work this week. I'm not diagnosed but I'm pretty sure I have ASD - I have meltdowns fairly regularly due to certain unalterable conditions at work, but on this particular day I'd been feeling low-grade anxiety anyway, but went into work to be confronted with a colossal workload out of nowhere. I began to feel very stressed, and then the crying started (I'm a subtle, very hidden cryer if I'm not alone so this was not normal at all for me) and then I went and sat in the cab of the vehicle I was meant to be using and, when my supervisor came to ask if I was okay, when I tried to talk to her the words that emerged were complete nonsense - stammering, partial words, stop-start attempts at speaking and eventually they sent me home. I just went to bed and staryed there under the covers for hours. I've never experienced anything like this before and, frankly, it scared the hell out of me. I worried for a while that I might have been having a stroke, but research tells me I was in burnout and maybe shutting down.

[Kiddly]

with me when I have a shutdown from social burnout it can lead on the worse case for me up to 16 hours where I just sleep and can't be woken very easy I also get even more issues with being touched as well and now I do it just sleep it off if I am not allowed to sleep it off I need my music to calm me or a craft to do

[InspirationEmPire]

Question. Today I was at a family get together, there were three kids playing together, screaming, running and having fun. There were 3 men in the living room talking, and 4 women talking in the dining room. I was in the middle of everything. I started getting a headache, covering my ears, and then I got heavy eyes, limited speech, I couldn’t think, I couldn’t talk at some point. And then I started crying. And then now that I’m home I’m still feeling drained and emotional and finding it hard to communicate to family

[soniczforever]

I get burnouts from lights I've severe headaches that won't go away. The headaches are incredibly painful no painkillers work. My vision and stomach go haywire. Got abuse about how I wouldn't be happy and no-one would love me. I was really sick and dizzy. I'm just going to stay home. I don't want to leave the house. One light left on caused my day to go up in flames.

[strictnonconformist]

This is great content, but it forces viewers to max the volume because the voice level is so low compared to the music.

It'd be great if you redid the audio, but as-is, it's difficult to deal with, certainly listening on a phone.

[simcraft]

I suspect that I might be autistic, I'm not really sure though, I often struggle to understand what's normal, and I can only tell that I'm always in misery. I always feel tired, and anxious, and the more of the two symptoms I get the worse eye contact I make, and it can get to a point where I just cry. I'm not necessarily unable to interact with people, but it's difficult because I'm just crying and upset, I often hide my face while doing this. I'm not sure if this counts as shutting down, as there isn't much about this topic on the internet, and many sources that do exist tend to say that you have to be completely unresponsive. I'd love others' opinions as I don't have the resources to get a real diagnosis, and honestly, I'm just confused about why I am the way I am.

[jesseberry]

Can u spread awareness on what covid and social distancing is affecting autism people? Idk if its affecting other but its making me i guess the easiest way to put it is bored sad depressed and another word i dont want to say

[InspirationEmPire]

So what do I have. Sensory overload or a shut down or a melt down

[TheWrenchEngineer]

I have adhd and when theres too much happening I can’t think. Uhmm that’s happening rn help my brain is somehow typing this idk how

[lilypearlxx]

Does this happen to people with ADHD too?