Sudden Changes

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Is it just sudden changes in routine that can cause people with ASD to become upset, or can it be sudden changes in the environment too? Is it possible to only have troubles dealing with sudden changes in the environment, but not with routine, or maybe just with routine and not the environment?

The reason I'm wondering about this is because I don't have any memory of changes in routine being a problem for me, but changes in the environment were always a big problem, probably when I was 12 years old and younger it was the worst, but when I was about 14 years old, I had already managed to cope with sudden changes better and now I'm at the point it almost doesn't bother me anymore, unless it's a really big change and then I'll become angry about it.

I also know that I have a lot of traits and symptoms in common with people that have ASDs, but since I've never gotten a diagnosis before, I really don't know what type of ASD I have.

Control over my environment was always a big thing for me. I hated both sudden changes in routine and in environment, but the environmental changes were even worse than the routine changes. I keep eberrything in my room in the same place, and I don't want anyone moving anything.

I don't know if I'm on the ASD spectrum or not, but I know that I always resist most changes. In most cases, I get used to the changes pretty quickly, but initially there is always a bit of unhappiness at having to deal with the changes.

As an example, in most of the office building at work they replaced the old carpet with synthetic hard wood flooring. Even though they did leave my office untouched, I'm still not happy with the hard wood flooring in the rest of the building.

The same goes for routine. Whenever we hire someone new, it always affects the routine and I really don't like dealing with it.

There was one personnel change that was for the better -- we got rid of someone I long felt needed to go. It didn't surprise me much when she was found to be embezzling money from the company.

yes disliking sudden changes in the environment-added or removed furniture in your house for example -is an ASD trait-it's part of the need for sameness. I have this problem too.............

I just don't quite understand why it was only changes in the environment for me. I always thought the problems with change had to be with routine and environment, but maybe there is variation in how this particular trait affects different people.

I can relate to this I remember when I was working in a factory and they decided to change our sections around it was hard for me as some of the people that were nice to me were in a different section.

Routine changes I find I can handle much better now then I used to.

Change bugs me too. Not all the time, but most of the time. I seem to get a strange anxious emotion, that makes me become very sensitive, so I may be feeling all right then somebody might unintentionally say something to upset me and I will become very anxious and depressed in a strange sort of way, and it's usually the change that has made me feel a bit on and off.

Also change can cause confusion, which also triggers these strange on and off feelings. I do feel like an elderly person with Dementia when I say that, but it's true. Although I am fully aware of the change, I still get confused. Like I'm starting a new job next week, and I keep thinking about it. One moment I'm rather excited about it, knowing I won't have to claim unemployment benefits any more and that I will be getting my own wage packet. Then the next moment I'm feeling rather anxious about it, although I don't know why. It's not the actual job I'm getting anxious about, it's more so the start of a new routine.

I think sometimes anxiety of change can also depend on the location. Like this job, it's near the High School where I used to go to, and the last time I had set foot down that road was when I came out of school on my last day, which was 6 years ago, and I haven't been down that road since, just drove along it a few times in a car (but that doesn't count). Now I felt strange going down this road again, it's as if I had moved on and thought I'd never be going anywhere near this school again (since I hated High School and was glad to leave), now I'm going to be walking back down there again every week, after 6 years of doing other things and forgetting about my old route to school.

I have serious difficulties with changes in routine or plans. If someone tells me we're doing something and they change to something else, even with a lot of notice, I get really thrown off (angry, upset, oppositional). I'm also really attached to having my day go a certain way with certain routines that I can't violate without getting disoriented.

Changes in environment seem less bothersome though I do notice even the smallest change, like a new flyer posted on a telephone pole on my walking route. But these changes aren't upsetting like the changes in routine, just things that stand out.