Imagine being autistic and suffering from burnout. What would you do if your friend criticized you for needing to be alone and recover? Would you try to power through to make them happy, or would you explain that you can’t help that you need time to recover?

In this story, one autistic friend and one neurotypical friend are in this situation, and they definitely don’t see eye to eye. In fact, the neurotypical friend is pretty rude.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for not being able to be what my friend needed whilst in a burnout

I was deep into a strong autistic burnout while my friend Layla came to visit me for a week for her birthday.

Now before she came I told her that due to the burnout -which was really strong- I wouldn’t be my full self and might talk less, show less emotion and will need afternoons to recover.

She told me it was fine and I thanked her.

Going to the beach was…a lot.

After we picked her up from the airport she said she would like to go to the beach, so we had to change plans suddenly.

I concealed my emotions because I wanted to make her happy.

The next day we went to the beach, before bathing we went to a crowded cafeteria and I got overstimulated and needed to be alone but then I was fine and we had fun on the beach.

I took all the afternoon to rest, I couldnt walk and talk.

OP got overstimulated again.

The next day was fine, we went to the market and then to the supermarket to but ice cream but I got overstimulated because of the lights and spent most of the afternoon resting.

Here is where the problem comes.

I went to the room to check on her and she was mad at me. I asked and she told me it was because I didnt spend any afternoon with her.

I apologized and told her that she agreed to it before meeting and explained that I needed it to recover so I could be with her during the mornings.

This was a rude way to respond.

She then said in a mocking voice -ohh pity me im autistic and can’t be myself, ooh pity me I go to a mental hospital twice a week wee wee-.

It hurt a lot, I left and had a meltdown. I couldnt even see her in dinner.

The next day she avoided speaking to me.

OP made a suggestion.

I told her that she could wrote a list about things she didn’t like and then we can talk about it.

I was surprised when I saw her write a long list -I usually ask in calls if im doing something wrong because im scared of messing up relationships and she always says we are fine-.

Most of the things on the list were about the afternoons, being dry, talking less and not being myself.

This friend doesn’t sound like a very good friend.

I apologized explained that it was due to the burnout and it exhausted me.

She huffed and we started arguing then said that everyone is a bit autistic and we are all a bit burned out.

It ticks me off when neurotypicals say that and that only made the argument more heated.

I told her that she cant say that because shes a neurotypical and has no idea how it is.

She’s expecting a lot.

She huffed again and asked when I will be fine.

I said that I didnt know yet.

She was not happy and said I was being selfish and unreasonable.

So AITA for the way I acted, justified my behavior on the burnout and wasn’t what my friend needed and was I right in the argument?

OP told the friend ahead of time that they wouldn’t be acting 100% normal during the visit, and she agreed it was fine. It’s rude of her to complain and belittle autism.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

The friend was warned.

The friend may not be able to understand, but she shouldn’t mock autism.

The friend was very cruel. That’s not okay.

This is a good point.

Mocking a friend is never okay.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.