Being perpetually potentially unsafe is a great recipe for anxiety. And, spoiler alert, anxiety is bad. But if anxiety in a child is left untreated—or worse, unacknowledged—anxiety will not only be magnified, it will inevitably compound into trauma. But it is very difficult to explain to a world that has decided Disneyland is the happiest place on earth that a child’s birthday party can trigger a fight-or-flight response in someone with ASD.
