Autistic Eating Isn’t Broken: Why ARFID Diagnoses Need a Rethink
Tracks
Jacaranda - In Person Only
| Tuesday, August 12, 2025 |
| 12:00 PM - 12:30 PM |
| Jacaranda Room |
Overview
Natasha Lane - Eating And Feeding
Speaker
Ms Natasha Lane
Dietitian, Feeding Therapist And Director
Eating And Feeding
Autistic Eating Isn’t Broken: Why ARFID Diagnoses Need a Rethink
Presentation Overview
Three Key Learnings:
1. Autistic eating is not inherently disordered. Many autistic people have eating patterns shaped by sensory, routine, and regulation needs. Misdiagnosing these as ARFID risks medicalising natural autistic traits rather than supporting them.
2. Neuronormative food expectations contribute to harm. The push for variety, flexibility, and social eating can lead to unnecessary interventions, increased anxiety, and masking, rather than fostering confidence and self-trust.
3. Neurodiversity-affirming practice is essential. True support must centre autonomy, self-trust, and lifelong strategies, not compliance. Enforcing neuronormative eating ideals holds back progress in how autistic people understand, accept, and manage their food needs.
Autistic people are often pressured to conform to neuronormative expectations around food, eating, and nutrition. These ideals prioritise variety, flexibility, and social eating, overlooking the sensory, regulatory, and routine-based needs inherent to autistic people. With the increasing diagnosis of Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder within the autistic population, and knowing that neurodiversity-affirming approaches are the least harmful and most supportive way forward, it might be time to start asking questions. Are we recognising genuine disordered eating, or are we mislabelling natural autistic eating patterns as a problem? If we continue viewing these differences as something to fix, are we contributing to other challenges by discouraging authenticity, autonomy, and self-trust?
Restricted intake can lead to serious consequences, including malnutrition and medical complications, and these instances require careful support. However, if we continue labelling autistic eating as disordered, how can we foster understanding and acceptance of its many presentations?
When autistic eating is pathologised, self-trust is eroded, making it harder to develop confidence in food choices and build long-term strategies for meeting nutritional needs. Instead of being supported to understand their own eating needs, autistic people are often forced to mask their differences, leading to shame, anxiety, and increased avoidance of food. Rather than being given tools to navigate natural shifts in eating that occur with stress and change, they are subjected to interventions that focus on control rather than support. This does not foster long-term well-being; it creates trauma. Parents, partners, and friends often find themselves under immense pressure to ensure their loved one is eating 'correctly' while navigating conflicting advice. This reinforces compliance over trust and further increases stress and uncertainty.
Can we continue accepting eating disorder diagnoses in this context, knowing they may be holding back progress by enforcing neuronormative ideals that create barriers to self-acceptance and long-term well-being?
1. Autistic eating is not inherently disordered. Many autistic people have eating patterns shaped by sensory, routine, and regulation needs. Misdiagnosing these as ARFID risks medicalising natural autistic traits rather than supporting them.
2. Neuronormative food expectations contribute to harm. The push for variety, flexibility, and social eating can lead to unnecessary interventions, increased anxiety, and masking, rather than fostering confidence and self-trust.
3. Neurodiversity-affirming practice is essential. True support must centre autonomy, self-trust, and lifelong strategies, not compliance. Enforcing neuronormative eating ideals holds back progress in how autistic people understand, accept, and manage their food needs.
Autistic people are often pressured to conform to neuronormative expectations around food, eating, and nutrition. These ideals prioritise variety, flexibility, and social eating, overlooking the sensory, regulatory, and routine-based needs inherent to autistic people. With the increasing diagnosis of Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder within the autistic population, and knowing that neurodiversity-affirming approaches are the least harmful and most supportive way forward, it might be time to start asking questions. Are we recognising genuine disordered eating, or are we mislabelling natural autistic eating patterns as a problem? If we continue viewing these differences as something to fix, are we contributing to other challenges by discouraging authenticity, autonomy, and self-trust?
Restricted intake can lead to serious consequences, including malnutrition and medical complications, and these instances require careful support. However, if we continue labelling autistic eating as disordered, how can we foster understanding and acceptance of its many presentations?
When autistic eating is pathologised, self-trust is eroded, making it harder to develop confidence in food choices and build long-term strategies for meeting nutritional needs. Instead of being supported to understand their own eating needs, autistic people are often forced to mask their differences, leading to shame, anxiety, and increased avoidance of food. Rather than being given tools to navigate natural shifts in eating that occur with stress and change, they are subjected to interventions that focus on control rather than support. This does not foster long-term well-being; it creates trauma. Parents, partners, and friends often find themselves under immense pressure to ensure their loved one is eating 'correctly' while navigating conflicting advice. This reinforces compliance over trust and further increases stress and uncertainty.
Can we continue accepting eating disorder diagnoses in this context, knowing they may be holding back progress by enforcing neuronormative ideals that create barriers to self-acceptance and long-term well-being?
Biography
As an AuDHDer, I bring both professional expertise and lived experience to my work in the eating and feeding space. Growing up undiagnosed, my sensory sensitivities made eating a daily challenge, often misunderstood as "fussy eating." These experiences fuel my passion for supporting neurodivergent individuals and families in navigating food with autonomy and self-trust.
I provide tailored, neuro-affirming, trauma-informed care, moving beyond neuronormative and compliance-driven models. As a credentialed eating disorder clinician and Accredited Practising Dietitian, I combine clinical knowledge with deep personal insight to create affirming, supportive spaces for clients of all ages.
