Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi There,
I am autistic and have an interest in the history of autism. I often wonder if autism has been around for hundreds of years but people never thought much of it back then. I think people back in the day would just look at us and think “oh he’s just quiet” or “oh she’s a bit shy but has a heart of gold” that kind of thing. I mean I never would have guessed I was autistic I really don’t feel disabled I just feel like a normal person who’s got a different mind.
is there anyone here from say the 40’s 50’s or 60’s that would like to share what being an autistic child was like back then when nobody knew what autism was? It must have been difficult feeling different but not knowing why.
Very shy, anxious and does not speak in class, would have been my external description as a child. I was entirely silent (selective mutism) for the first 3 months or so of infant school. I think that my sensory difficulties with some textures and disliking having oily or greasy fingers (amongst other things) would have been put down to finickiness, I was saved, socially, by two things: I was an unusually good visual artist from a young age and I would please other kids by drawing anything they asked for, I had an enquiring mind and a retentive memory so I could talk in an informed way to any other child about virtually anything that particularly interested them (other than sport!). I was born in the early 1960s.
That’s good that your art helped you communicate. Other kids in school also appreciated my art when I was a child.
I used to have aversion to greasy, oily or the other way, sticky or even dried out fingers. used to either be washing my hands or licking my fingers frequently. nobody ever commented on this or anything else (fascination with spinning wheels, being stressed out by loud noises (fireworks esp) or unable to come out of some kind of hyper vigilant state at birthday parties etc with balloons present). Had to do work experience later on in school and the boss of the company had to do a report on me for the school stating I was "pathologically shy" (I would disappear off into the storage room now and again) and made him a cup of tea in a small soup bowl etc. He wrote that I needed some kind of counselling. I don't think the school even read it. Like you say, there was nothing there to pick up on anything when I was at school (80s - 90s) for "low needs" despite even myself once, after being invited to talk about things specifically, detailing an ongoing dread and anxiety about doing things like using a bus etc. to one of the teachers at secondary school.
Looking back, I think there were a few children who I think were in a similar situation.
Going back further then the 80s? I'm convinced my mum is on the spectrum. There was nothing from her time in place to pick up on anything like that.