Why I Took a Break: Autism, Burnout & Advocacy as a Black Woman

Navigating autistic burnout, the emotional cost of advocacy, and why sustainable activism is essential.

Feb 28, 2025

Advocacy is exhausting. Not just the work itself, but the emotional labor, the constant explaining, the pushback, and the weight of carrying conversations others would rather ignore. When you’re autistic, Black, and outspoken in a world that resists your existence, that exhaustion takes on another layer.

I didn’t plan to step back—but I had to. And in doing so, I learned hard truths about burnout, trust, and the cost of always being the one to educate.

This post expands on the themes in my latest video:

What autistic burnout really looks like
The emotional toll of advocacy on Black autistic people
How trauma, trust, and delayed processing affect us
Why being autistic in the African diaspora adds extra weight
The necessity of sustainable activism

Burnout Isn’t Just Fatigue—It’s Systemic

Burnout is often misunderstood as simple exhaustion, something that can be resolved with rest. But autistic burnout is more than that—it’s a full-body shutdown. It means losing access to speech, struggling with sensory overload, and experiencing cognitive fog that makes even basic tasks feel insurmountable.

When you add racism, microaggressions, and the expectation to be strong at all times, burnout does not just drain you—it erases you.

Burnout is not just about being tired. It is about the world demanding more of you than it was ever willing to give back.

What Autistic Burnout Feels Like

Physical exhaustion – Sensory overload, chronic fatigue, migraines
Cognitive shutdown – Memory lapses, speech difficulties, difficulty processing
Emotional depletion – Feeling detached, anxious, or unable to engage

At a certain point, I had to ask myself:

Am I showing up for my work, or just reacting to constant demands?
Am I advocating from passion, or am I running on empty?

Most importantly: Why do we expect the most impacted people to carry the burden of educating everyone else?

Trust, Trauma & The Problem of Delayed Processing

Autistic people tend to take words at face value. We assume honesty, we trust people’s intentions, and when that trust is broken, it cuts deeper than most realize.

The problem? Many autistic people experience delayed processing.

It can take weeks, months, or even years to fully grasp the impact of harm done to us. Often by those closest to us like our caregivers, friends, partners. And this is true for 80% of autistic people according to research. By the time we understand the weight of an experience, the people responsible have often moved on, shirked accountability and leaving us to process it alone.

How do you rebuild trust when betrayal lingers?
How do you protect your energy without shutting people out?
How do you heal when society tells you to toughen up instead?

Many autistic people are walking around with wounds they haven’t even fully named yet.

This intersection of trust, trauma, and autism is rarely discussed—but it should be.

Autism in the African Diaspora: A Silent Struggle

Growing up autistic in the African diaspora means constantly having to prove your experiences are real—not just to the world, but sometimes even to your own community.

Autism was never openly discussed. Instead, behaviours were labeled as:

Difficult
Defiant
Too sensitive

There was an expectation to push through, to be strong, to avoid showing weakness. The world already sees Blackness as resilient, so where does that leave Black autistic people?

For many of us, the intersection of race and neurodivergence means constantly being misinterpreted.

Shutdowns are mistaken for attitude
Sensory overload is seen as aggression
Emotional distress is dismissed because Black people are expected to be strong

But Black autistic people do not exist to be strong. We deserve softness, understanding, and care.

Advocacy Shouldn’t Break Us

Even after all this, I still believe in advocacy. But I refuse to do it in a way that destroys me.

Moving forward, I shifted my approach:

Unmasking & Authenticity – No more shrinking to fit into spaces that were never built for us. This comes with a painful regression of skills and relearning.
Healing & Community – Prioritizing rest and recovery, not just resilience.
Sustainable Activism – Because change that relies on our suffering is not real change.

Join the Conversation

Burnout is real, and advocacy should not require self-sacrifice.

If this resonated with you, let’s have a conversation:

Have you experienced burnout?
Do you struggle with trust and delayed processing?

Drop a comment below, and let’s build a space where we don’t just survive these systems—we change them by changing how we navigate them.

Watch & Connect

Watch the Full Video on my channel
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Further Exploration: Misdiagnosis & Autism in the Black Diaspora

Autistic burnout is just one layer of the challenges faced by Black neurodivergent people. Many of us experience late diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or complete dismissal by medical professionals due to systemic bias in healthcare. This is not accidental—it is the result of diagnostic frameworks that were never designed with Black neurodivergent people in mind.

For those interested in how racial bias affects autism diagnoses and my own journey to understanding my neurodivergence, I have covered these topics in-depth in other videos:

The Reality of Misdiagnosis in the Black Diaspora – How racial stereotypes and medical bias prevent Black people from getting diagnosed correctly.
How I Got Diagnosed: My Journey with Autism & ADHD – A look at my personal experience navigating the medical system and finally receiving a diagnosis.

If you’ve ever felt overlooked or misunderstood by the medical system, these videos may help contextualize why. Misdiagnosis is common, but being dismissed does not mean your experiences are invalid.