Neurodivergent Spoons & Forks: How to Explain Autism and Fatigue

Everyone has different ways of describing how they deal with fatigue, whether it’s physical, emotional, or mental. Many disabled and neurodivergent people have to ration their energy in a way that able-bodied and neurotypical people do not.

Two models of explaining fatigue and energy expenditure, the Spoon Theory and the Fork Theory, were created by disabled folks and distributed throughout their communities by word-of-mouth. These theories are applicable to the neurodivergent community — especially to autistics — as well. In this post, I’m going to give you an overview of both theories, talk about how they can apply to autism and neurodivergence, and which theory I prefer.

🎧 Rather listen than read this post? This article is based off of Episode 5 of the Neurodiverging Podcast! Listen on Apple Podcasts| Google Podcasts | Spotify

Disability, Neurodivergence, and Fatigue

One of the things I notice whenever I talk to people with a chronic illness, disability, or neurodivergence is how common fatigue is for people with one or more of those conditions. People may use different concepts or language to explain their fatigue, but fatigue itself is one of the underlying threads among people who are disabled, chronically ill, and/or neurodivergent.

Most people with a disability or chronic illness will notice a difference between the amount of energy they can access at any given…