• Replies 31 replies
  • Subscribers 84 subscribers
  • Views 7986 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Related
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Is Isolation easier due to our Autism?

Kit McDaydream

Don't know about anyone else but I always enjoyed my own company even as a child. Don't know if that's cos I never understood other kids or they usually ended up bullying me so playing with others was not enjoyable.

Did manage to have friends and go to college and work and stuff in my twenties but by thirties was suffering from severe burnout and really wanted my own space again, no social pressures to comply with 'normal' and just do my own thing so feel I'm really thriving in this 'pandemic' situation....  Had 2 months to myself don't have to be visited by people i really don't want to see but feel I have to  to comply with being seen as 'normal', cos now its more important that I'm not in contact with anyone who could give me covid19  (am in vulnerable group due to other medical issues thankfully!)

Glad I live rurally so I can slip out at 5am and have the fields/etc to myself t walk my dog and suddenly its perfectly acceptable to go out of your way to avoid someone coming the other way (not that I see anyone at that time) or to avoid going out at a time where more people would be about. Spend rest of day drawing, painting, playing video games and sitting in garden with the dog. Perfectly happy and no need for other humans.

Only problem I have is sunny weather bringing the neighbours and the noisy brats out so can't enjoy my garden at 'peak times' (when usually they'd be at school/work during the week) but finally decided on some noise cancelling headphones to solve that issue.

Dreading things going back to normal and 'social expectations' going back to normal so hoping this 'bubble' idea govt has takes off where you're limited to one or two households of close family which enables me to conveniently still avoid some social expectations whilst still been able to see close family for our birthdays over summer.

NT's are complaining of loneliness and boredom but I'm happiest I've been for a long while. Just wondered if other autistic's felt the same?  Obviously there's going to be some people who need other people as carers for physical/daily living tasks, but if you're autistic and live alone (and have done for years) do you find you're NOT experiencing self-isolation the same as NT's? 

or are you an autistic person who feels they need constant reassurance from NT's that what you're doing is acceptable and seen to be 'fitting in'?   ..and finding it difficult not having other people around you to give that constant reassurance? (ie through being at work daily).

Kit

Parents

  • Things haven't changed much for me, I didn't really leave the house before all of this so it's not much of a change. I like to play video games and watch films/tv/documentaries so all my hobbies are indoor things anyway. We always went shopping fortnightly anyway so that's no different(other then the initial bare shelves), the only major change for me personally is that I can't walk the dogs more than once a day.

    One of our dogs is a massive people person and not being able to go near anyone the past several weeks has made her a bit crazy, when we see people on our walk she starts barking and once they are far enough away she starts whimpering because they didn't come over to stroke her. It's made the other dog super anxious, more so then she was before, she was a little wary of everything before all of this. Now with people crossing the street, I'm assuming she's picking up on the tension and anxiety other people are giving off it's put her on high alert. So the dogs have gone from one being super friendly and the other a bit quieter but still allowing some people to stroke her to the pair of them barking their heads off at everyone. Then one basically crying because she's getting no attention and the other growling because she thinks we are in danger somehow.


    The only really tricky thing has been my teenage daughter, just before the lockdown we had a lot of arguments because she thought it was unfair that she was "trapped at home" when her friends were all out together. When lockdown happened it was a bit of an I told you so moment - because people like her friends wouldn't stick to social distancing so the whole country is now in lockdown. She's missed her best friend the most they were together most of the time, obviously at school but most weekends she was either at her friends or her friend was over here. On the flip side she has spent a lot more time with us, we've played a lot of games together, watched a lot of documentaries and had many laughs and late nights together.

    I think the lack of friends is probably why this hasn't affected me so much, if I was a fairly sociable or active person then maybe this would have affected me more. I can imagine how difficult it must be for someone who is used to going out to eat a few times a week, playing a sport and seeing friends at the weekend to suddenly being stuck at home 24/7 it would be very difficult. At least we live in a time where technology is so advanced people can still 'see' each other via zoom, facetime etc. Online shopping is available, internet forums, Facebook, youtube, Netflix etc it means people can stay in touch and be entertained/keep active so much more, imagine how hard this would have been if it happened 20 years ago!

  • in reply to Azpie

    with regard to the dogs...can you take them out really early like 5-6am when no-one else is about that way they don't see anyone but you could still let them have off-lead time to run about if no-one else was around?

Reply Children
No Data