So, how can successfully organizing a space be useful? Simply put, effectively organizing a space makes life easier (so you don’t have to spend hours looking for your watch, for example), reduces stress and sensory overload, and consists of strategies that can be used on a regular basis. Once this area has successfully been cleaned and organized, you can then move on to a larger section of the room and continue the process, with the end goal being able to eventually clean and organize every part of the room. If it is possible, enlisting a family member, caregiver, or friend to help out can be a great way to stay on task. Rather than trying to clean the entire space at once, a small section of the room, like one dresser drawer, can be addressed first. Breaking up this project into several smaller steps can make it easier to manage. It can feel like an insurmountable task to clean a messy room because there are so many aspects of the envi ronment that demand attention. Tying this back into the above quote by Zosia Zak sheds light on how hard it can be to approach the task of cleaning and organizing a living space because the question “Where to start?” cannot be easily answered for many. Similarly, Madison House Autism Foundation Associate Kyle Gosweiler explains in You Aut to Know: What Helps Adults with Autism Thrive, how many adults with autism find it challenging to do certain tasks because they are “prone to high levels of distraction and losing train of thought.” For people with autism, it is also easier to get caught up in the numerous steps and details that may be involved in a task, as Kyle explains, making it difficult to focus on the specific factors of the situation that need to be addressed. “Well-meaning non-autistic friends or relatives can inadvertently put pressure on us or assume we are lazy, in fact, we may have be having serious trouble caring for our living quarters, further fueling a sense of frustration.” (p.
It may not be obvious where to store items either. It may be difficult to sort and control things that arrive in the home, with newspapers winding up all over the place and packages left by the door for weeks. For example, we may not realize that the enormous pile of ‘stuff’ on the bed can be broken down into separate piles of clothes, books, papers, and trash, and therefore managed more easily. “Autistic people may also have trouble sorting different objects in the home. What has to be done first? Where do you begin? “Some autistic people have difficulty managing all the tasks that go into maintaining a home. Zosia Zak, author of Life and Love: Positive Strategies for Autistic Adults is quoted by Living with Asperger’s, illustrating the difficulties many adults with autism face with regard to cleaning and organizing their living space. As discussed on Living with Asperger’s, many adults with autism find it challenging to clean and organize their living spaces. With organization, the key is to start small. Putting aside time for some spring cleaning can help make a living space more autism-friendly and make daily routines easier.
Although organization can be difficult for many and time-consuming, it can also be a low-cost solution that significantly reduces stress. An unorganized and messy space can also make simple tasks more difficult because a larger amount of time may need to be dedicated to finding needed items. Clutter in a living space can be a huge stressor for people with autism because it can contribute to sensory overload and overall stress levels.
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