Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is an autistic profile characterised by an extreme avoidance of everyday demands and expectations, driven by anxiety and a heightened sensitivity to loss of autonomy. PDA isn’t about defiance. It’s about threat perception. When a demand feels like loss of control, even neutral language can land as pressure. Sometimes it isn’t the task that escalates things — it’s the wording. A small shift in language can be the difference between cooperation and crisis. The g