Understanding phenomenological experiences of autistic inertia using online community discourse

The term 'inertia' refers to the seemingly common Autistic experience of remaining in a state of rest or a state of motion until there is some form of external intervention. While a heavily discussed phenomenon in the Autistic community, it has been scarcely acknowledged in the academic literature. The present study aimed to advance knowledge of Autistic inertia by analysing a large qualitative sample of naturalistic discourse on the topic from Autistic online communities on the social media platform, 'Reddit'. We identified 501 relevant posts shared between 2005 and 2023, including 9,955 comments. We analysed the posts using reflexive thematic analysis with an inductive approach. We identified four themes, centred on the "all or nothing" extremes of inertia (Theme 1), the range of factors that intersect with and exacerbate it (Theme 2), its joyful and often highly-disabling impacts (Theme 3), and the varied ways in which Reddit users manage it (Theme 4). Our findings corroborated those from existing interview-based studies and also uncovered additional insights, elaborating on 'the vicious cycle' of inertia, its fatiguing effects and its interaction with other commonly co-occurring conditions. We discuss these less-reported experiences and identify what we know - and are still yet to understand - about the key features of Autistic inertia.