Give People More Control Over Their Lives And Schedules.

One of the best explanations I’ve been able to come up with for why autism messes with your sleep schedule is that your brain prefers you to be awake when it is darker and more quieter out. A more nocturnal schedule has a lot of sensory benefits for autistic people:

Fewer people around, less noise

Less bright/glaring light

Generally a calmer environment

Which would work fine if we were living in a world where capitalism hadn’t made alternate sleep schedules so untenable because of “profit.” In a different society this sort of quality could be valued (“no I don’t mind tending the herd at night, you find it hard to stay awake but I find it peaceful,” and so on). But not in this one. And that’s not a failing of biology, or neurology. That’s a failure of society. The fact that so many neurodivergent people struggle with keeping an 8 to 5 schedule is another symptom of intrusive capitalism microcontrolling our lives, not a personal “weakness” or shortcoming.

Give people more control over their lives and schedules.