Published on 12, July, 2020
There's another question that sprang to mind this morning.
What defines your autism?
I have noticed that most of the posts on the forum appear to be about our vulnerabilities.
So, is our autism defined by our vulnerabilities?
Certainly the sensitivities and communication difficulties can make us more vulnerable to stress and isolation.
Any positives anyone?
I'm still thinking about that one.
There is a lot of food for thought once we have obtained recognition either personally or professionally.
Social exclusion.
I can go days and weeks without speaking with another person.
Even when I shop I avoid the manned tills and use the self service checkouts.
It's not because I don't want the social interaction with the cashier. I just don't want their dirty/deseased hands and fingers all over my groceries.
Always a consideration, granted.
I still head for the social interaction with another human, over being told what to do in exacting and excruciating (to me) detail by a machine programmed by a human.
When I did get proper "germophobic" in early 2020 I invested in a UV-C bulb to replace our hallway lamp, precisely to combat the problem you describe. Also to irradiate incoming parcels and post etc. I've no idea if it was effective, (although there is plenty of data to say that it is) but it sure made me feel a bit safer and consequently less afraid to do a lot of normal stuff during COVID.