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Hobbies &/or Activities For Autistic Adults

NAS83234

Hello, my Uncle who is 42 has Asperger’s and recently had to change everything he’s ever known and move to another state and live with my mother (his sister) due to my grandmother (who he’s lived with his entire life) passed away. He’s struggled a lot here lately with being able to keep himself entertained through out the day. My mother works and isn’t home 10-12 hours of the day so he’s home alone a lot. Anyway…he doesn’t really have any hobbies or anything and gets bored easily. He does watch a lot of TV. Mainly older movies and such. But he is really I mean really into fashion make up etc. and loves the celebrities on the red carpet. He just recently got a Facebook and he will literally message me 25-30 times a day wanting to talk about “how pretty this actress or that actress dress and make up is” or “how much money those dresses/outfits are” and I obviously can’t be mean to him but more times than not I just don’t have the time to sit down and look up photos and have these discussions with him. Long story short on my end but I have a baby who is under a year old and I’m overwhelming exhausted from day to day life being a stay at home mom. I’ve asked him if he has any hobbies he likes doing but he hasn’t told me. I was wondering if anyone knows of anything I can do or buy him to help him occupy and entertain himself when he’s at home alone?! 

  • I mean, if he’s happy doing what he’s doing, you can’t really force him to start up an interest if he already has one. I don’t think you need to out your hand in your pocket either. What you could do is suggest something like getting him to be active on these sort of communities and Facebook groups, There are many for celebrity lovers.

    If he’s good with social media, he might want to start a page talking about the red carpet outfits, celebrity style, by posting pictures and doing polls. The more people engage, the more he can talk about it. 
    if he likes clothing, and not just celebrity fashion etc, maybe he could put outfits together from clothing websites, and post them on Pinterest. I think all of these things require time, thus should keep him busy.

  • in reply to Peter

    I am in complete agreement with everything Peter says here.

  • NAS83234 said:
    He just recently got a Facebook and he will literally message me 25-30 times a day wanting to talk about “how pretty this actress or that actress dress and make up is” or “how much money those dresses/outfits are” and I obviously can’t be mean to him but more times than not I just don’t have the time to sit down and look up photos and have these discussions with him.

    Isn't he basically telling you what he's interested in. A) pretty women, B) swanky dresses, C) fancy make up. My conclusions are he either:

    1) Is pining for female companionship.

    2) has a really strong interest in female fashion / make up.

    3) has secret crossdressing tendencies.

    In which case you either need to get him out of the house and dating again. Help him find some fashion courses at night school or something like that or take him out for a new wardrobe.

    If he's so into fashion why not buy him a sewing machine and put him to work. Really you need to talk to him about this don't you? Isn't that the simplest solution. Just ask him.

  • I'm autistic and can honestly say that it would drive me insane if I was on the receiving end of that many messages on a daily basis, irrespective of whether I had a baby to care for or not. From my perspective, unless your uncle makes you aware of any other interests/hobbies he has, there is probably not much that you can do or buy him that will help to occupy his time.

    There are many people on the autistic spectrum that love nothing more than to talk about their special interests with people who share those same interests, and it can sometimes pave the way to forming friendships. It might be worth trying to find out if there are any online groups your uncle could join, where he can talk to his heart's content with other members that share the same interests as him. Blogging about his special interests is another option.