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Special Dietary Needs for Autistic People

 I have heard from a friend that she has been having difficulty finding accommodations concerning special dietary needs that are absolutely necessary for Autistic people if you are going to be throwing any kind of social event. I have my own special dietary needs and food restrictions, not to mention severe textural aversions to many foods. I found this so distressing that I figured it was enough input to make an entry about. 

A lot of times, Autistic people will eat what we call "samefoods" where we will continuously eat the same types of food for days, weeks, months, even years on end. Special dietary needs and food restrictions, such as food allergies, need to always be worked out before any social event so that all people are accommodated.

This brings me to another point about Autistic people's difficulty with certain foods: we are also at an elevated risk of developing eating disorders, such as anorexia, or in my case avoidant-restrictive food intake disorder. The latter has many similarities to anorexia, such as eating limited food, but in this case, you are limiting the foods that you eat, often due to textural aversions in my case, along with having a deep-seated fear of choking, and losing your appetite at mealtime. This fact has been talked about in-depth in Unmasking Autism by Devon Price, PhD who suffered from anorexia himself. 

So, to say the least, food accommodations are one of the most important things to take into consideration when meal planning for a social event. You never know how many Autistic or other food-sensitive people will be attending, so always take allergies into consideration, always offer some "easy" and "bland" food such as French fries, offer both vegan and non-vegan options (I personally cannot stand the texture of meat or eggs and am lactose intolerant), ask attendees about any special diets they are on, basically, offer a very diverse array of foods if you want to be accommodating to Autistics, food sensitive people, people with eating disorders, and any other Neurodivergence that may rely on requiring certain food accommodations. 

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