26/11/2025
“Volcano of Overstimulation: Autistic Burnout”
This artwork is a visual analogy of what so many autistic people quietly carry.
Each layer beneath the surface represents an experience pushed down—overwhelm, sensory overload, social pressure, the weight of expectations that were never realistic to begin with. These layers don’t disappear; they accumulate. They settle densely in the body, held in clenched muscles, shallow breaths, and the constant effort to keep it together.
From the outside, an eruption might look like it was caused by a “little thing.”
But what people don’t see is everything that has been simmering beneath—avoided, denied, suppressed for the sake of fitting in, masking, or simply surviving in spaces not built with autistic needs in mind. When the final trigger hits, the volcano doesn’t create new pressure; it releases what was already there.
The artist generously shared this piece in hopes that more people might understand this internal landscape with compassion. If society recognised these hidden layers and responded with empathy instead of judgment, it might become easier for autistic people to unmask—even just a little—while out in the world.
May this artwork serve as a reminder: eruptions aren’t overreactions.
They’re the visible edge of an invisible story.
💜
