PDA - Neurodiversity Ireland

Persistent Drive for Autonomy (PDA)

What is PDA?

Persistent Drive for Autonomy PDA is a nervous system-based profile within neurodivergence and/or trauma. At its core is a biologically driven need to maintain autonomy in order to stay regulated and safe. PDA is not behavioural. It is not anxiety driven. It is not about opposition or refusal.

When demands or pressure exceed nervous system capacity they can trigger a survival response. This response may look different across individuals and contexts and can include avoidance, shutdown, distress or masking. It is best understood through regulation safety and capacity rather than behaviour management or compliance.

In this video, Sorcha explains PDA through a nervous-system and lived-experience lens, exploring how pressure, loss of autonomy, and cumulative stress shape capacity and what genuinely supportive, neuroaffirming care looks like.

PDA Nervous System Regulation and Fluctuating Capacity

People with a PDA profile are often described as having “fluctuating capacity”, but this is frequently misunderstood. Capacity does not disappear, regress, or switch on and off. Instead, capacity is highly context dependent and shaped by how well an environment understands and responds to a person’s neurotype.

When a PDA’er is supported in ways that respect autonomy, reduce pressure, and support nervous system regulation, their capacity is more readily expressed. When their neurotype is misunderstood or overridden, the nervous system may move into a protective survival state and participation becomes far more difficult. This is not about accessing or losing skills. Skills remain present. What changes is the felt safety to use them.

What Closes Capacity for PDA’ers

Capacity is commonly reduced not by internal deficit but by external mismatch, including

misunderstanding PDA as behavioural or oppositional
increasing demands or pressure when distress is present
executive functioning pressure without support
school systems built around compliance and performance
sensory environments that overwhelm the nervous system
lack of predictability or autonomy
trauma informed needs being overlooked

When environments do not recognise a PDA neurotype, the nervous system responds protectively. This protective response directly affects everyday functioning.

Impact on Everyday Life

When a PDA’er is in a survival state, areas that rely on internal cues, bodily trust, and felt safety are often the first to be impacted.

This can include:

toileting
feeding and eating
sleep
self care
communication
safety and risk awarenes

These experiences are often misinterpreted as skill loss, avoidance, or refusal. In reality, they reflect a nervous system doing its job in an environment that does not yet meet the person’s needs.Support must therefore focus on changing the environment and expectations, not the person.

PDA Support for Parents

Parent Consultation supports families to understand PDA as a nervous system based profile within neurodivergence and/or trauma, rather than as behaviour or non compliance. Consultations support parents to identify what opens and closes their child’s window of capacity, including the impact of demand and pressure on the nervous system, executive functioning expectations and relational safety.

Support focuses on:

understanding survival responses and distress signals
supporting nervous system regulation and coregulation
protecting autonomy while still meeting essential needs
reducing cycles of escalation through co-regulation
adapting the home environment to increase predictability and felt safety

Consultation is collaborative and practical and centres the lived experience of PDA’ers and their families. For parent consultation contact pda@neurodiversityireland.com

PDA Support for Schools

Training and Consultation – Training supports school staff to understand PDA as a nervous system-based profile and to move away from behaviourist interpretations that increase pressure and distress. School support focuses on:

recognising distress and survival responses rather than behaviour
understanding how demands/pressure and expectations impact regulation and capacity
reducing executive functioning load within the school day
creating predictable flexible and emotionally safe environments
supporting participation and learning without reliance on compliance-based strategies
increasing staff confidence when supporting PDA’ers.

Consultation supports schools to reflect on systems policies and classroom practices that may unintentionally escalate distress and to develop responses that are neuroaffirming sustainable and relational. For school training and consultation Contact pda@neurodiversityireland.com

Everyday Support Resources

The following downloadable PDFs focus on reducing pressure increasing predictability and supporting regulation while respecting autonomy.