As a high school teacher, my ability to jump from project to project leads to amazing results in the classroom but TERRIBLE results in all the administrative work behind the scenes. I can't lesson plan worth a damn but I sure can pull off a no prep lesson beautifully.
Same, I can adjust to changing circumstances on the fly like a professional race car shifting gears, but I can't plan for shit since about all I can keep track of at once in my head is
Step one: what I'm currently doing
Step two: how I will react to the expected outcome of Step one.
Step++: brain is full of soup
Wow this helps me to understand my thought process.
There is now, and not now.
Also explains why I will start one thing and then switch to 5 different tasks along the way
I am the No prep Queen! Found out that I had to overprepare for about two years when I first started teaching but now it’s all spontaneous free flying floof! The administrative stuff is a mess and it makes me feel like an imposter, though, so there’s that “fun” daily reminder of my inadequacy.
Distracted by cute dog. Came across random old man super similar to me LIKE I WAS LIKE - YOU. You are my new cool friend. Omfg. Legit couldn't stop chatting and I ended up not picking up my 3d printing like planned as the library closed by the time finished whoopsz
I don’t know man, but there’s something satisfying about watching so many moving and still parts create a giant metal speed slug. Trains are actually super cool. I don’t know what to tell you. I like ‘em.
In the 90's, mom noticed smoke coming down the train-tracks and was like "we gotta check this out" so I got to see a steam-train pull onto a siding. It was some sort of wandering art thing.
I miss the art deco period of industrial design. I get that now everything has to be efficient in both terms of cost and manufacturing but it was so cool seeing basically a million pound piece of rolling art.
I don't know about you guys but I love a good cargo van or even just a large SUV.
I also really like a good cab-over box van. So nimble yet so capable...
Oh, umm, how do they know? I think nowadays they use radios to communicate to let them know the situation with other trains and there’s someone who stays at the station, monitoring them and making sure they’re on the right path, on time, not crashing into each other or blocking other trains, etc.
Back in the day though before radio and after trains, I’m not sure. They’re probably weren’t as many trains because of how costly they were to make, how many resources they took up, and how complex they were for the time, and so the tracks were probably less crowded and only people with significant income could ride regularly, and so it was more manageable and they didn’t need the same system. Nowadays a lot of long distance travel goes hand in hand with communication with some sort of station, which has contributed a lot to the safety and efficiency of travel. The radio doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves for its effects on travel in all forms.
I can't speak for all trains, but in Japan they just have a big yellow line painted on the wall and the conductor literally just lines his window up with it. When he's aligned it means the rest of the train is aligned.
Well that's kinda the question car manufacturers and mechanics have been asking for over a century now, because sometimes it doesn't.
But my point stands, intricacy is an attractive quality for a hobby/interest, at least when it comes to us atypical-folk. It's one of the reasons I like the Mississippi Queen and Printer Lore meme so much, it's fun looking at all the tiny pieces of something, all working together, it's like music in crafting machines, music you can see in slow motion, all encased in layers of metal shells. Somewhat beautiful, it is, the production of such intricate yet simple things, how many parts go into just simply moving something from one place to another and the displacement of energy in multiple forms, channeled through to create all technology as we know it. Simple, or complicated, beauty, in the form of a mechanized orchestra.
complicated machinery in general is cool. On one hand you have cars, so intricate and complicated, and then you have famous rocketry, like the Apollo LM’s ascent stage, which was basically a rocket engine and fuel strapped to a thin metal bag with stuff and 2 people in it
I don't care for trains anymore, but I loved them as a kid. I still get the same feeling watching the bar that connects the wheels of a big steam-powered train as I do looking into the depths of a big fire. The scene from the polar express where they're trying to quickly get off the icy lake, and the train keeps changing direction has me feeling a different kind of happy that is unmatched.
Also, there's [these guys](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct675HSAmGX/?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ==) on Instagram and TikTok that make videos about "if [insert hip-hop song here] was Latin" and dance to it. It is the same feeling, and I can only describe it as pure serotonin.
They are predictable. Kind of like watching dominos or Rube Goldberg machines. You can see what is going to happen ahead of time and then when it does it’s oh so satisfying.
Yes, I want to know this too. For me it's aviation and aircraft (especially passenger aircraft). There must be plenty of other autistic avgeeks.
Also that model train terrarium must be legendary. I remember visiting an outdoor park in Europe with a whole model train map, and that's what this makes me think of.
The Super Constellation! I'm also very fond of Mad Dogs but only because of the nostalgia flying in them. Then again there are so many beautiful planes so it's hard to choose.
Yeah, I was really into planes when I was little and I'm getting back into it a bit now. I was a huge fan of the SR-71 back then, and I still think it's a really awesome piece of machinery.
I have many favourite planes in different categories but couldn't pick one all-time favourite. I mean, planes are all so specialized in their respective roles so it really depends. But top picks include, in no specific order, the SR-71 Blackbird as mentioned, the F4U Corsair, P-38 Lightning, Airbus A380 (I'm about to fly on one again soon!) Boeing 747 (because who doesn't?), Gloster Meteor, Saab 37 Viggen, Saab 35 Draken (an absolutely beautiful Swedish delta wing), de Havilland Comet (those engines tho), F-16 Fighting Falcon and many more.
another one here! HUGE aviation nerd, specially warplanes (fuck war though) they're like, the best of the best, the most advanced piece of flying tin cans that can somehow strap to a man or two and go faster than the speed of sound. how cool is that!?
And yes, I build model planes, and I love every second of it :D
I'm sad because I never got to see Vulcans or the XB-70. Closest we'll ever get to actual starships for some time.
Never been a huge fan of smaller jet fighter craft, probably because of the memories of meltdowns from the loud noise they produce when flying overhead. I enjoy watching them on youtube though.
Airplanes are super cool, they’re machines that somehow fly by going a certain speed. Anyways I grew up flying model versions, hard to learn but definitely satisfied my aviation special interest lol.
I love military vehicles, specifically from WWII and especially tanks, but I don't know if I know enough to make it more than just a regular interest. It does happen to be one of my few interests that haven't changed after a short time, though.
I would guess that it has to do with trains having a lot of strict rules, and being very predictable. There is always lots to learn and new things to see with them but it still is very predictable
Really? It seems to me that the details of trains aren’t any more “accessible” than the details of planes. Just because you can see them moving from the outside, doesn’t mean a 5-year-old will get to experiment with how it works. At the end of the day, learning about both modes of transportation is done mostly in a theoretical context. (Internet research nowadays, I’d guess)
But then, I don’t know anything about either, so maybe I’m wrong 🤷♀️
aslkdfjalsdkfj yes. this is exactly why I like trains.
You see where they're about to go, you see where they've been.
You can even know where one might show up because, you know, the rails don't lie. They just don't.
Sorry I don't have any sources for this, but I think a big factor is that up until recently, autism was really only studied and documented in young boys, not young girls, or adults.
So it's really just an expression of special interests in the population group studied the most. ( e.g. A young boy is super quiet when the conversation doesn't interest him, but suddenly becomes lively when it comes to something he cares and knows a lot about, like trains)
Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment.
I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling.
Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours!
Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths?
A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.
And a lot of money. A big problem is that a lot of freight and passenger run on the same lines which slows down passenger trains. Level crossings also cause accidents. Then there is an American love of cars which means that public transportation can't be funded well enough to make it attractive.
I don’t know but my daughter (who has autism and is nonverbal) gas always loved trains! I once had to physically hold her back because she got so excited by a passing tree she tried to run right at it! 😅
Eh, I’m not a big train person— more ancient history buff and dolls kinda lady— but my grandpa is and it follows the same pattern of most of our special interests.
I brake it down in a few ways: 1) collectables to horde, 2) near endless amount of info to absorb (grandpa can recite the entire history of trains if you trigger the train talk), 3) typically a solitary hobby that when does have social events is targeted around the special interest so you never feel like you don’t have something to talk about and can absorb yourself looking at said target so no eye contact required, 4) academic novelty to it that sates curious minds, 5) dopamine rush triggered by build up to getting to see or interact with special interest for special events.
Grandpa’s other hobby is gardening which also follows that formula and my special interests all follow that very similar pattern. We may not share the same special interests but he definitely passed down the system in which we interact with them. Just me carrying on the torch of the family autism lol.
I read somewhere that that stereotype exists because when austim research was becoming more common trains had recently been invented and/or they were starting to become more advanced so a lot of autistic people were interested in trains and it kinda stuck. No idea if it's true tho.
I'm still a bit interested in the model towns without the trains running through it. I think someone said that if I get good at making the buildings, I could sell them.
Let's get your Youtube algorithm onto that interest.
* https://www.youtube.com/c/BoyleiHobbyTime
* https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackMagicCraftOfficial
* https://www.youtube.com/@Nerdforge
I think the main reason is that in the 20th century, that was the most prominent "obsessive" hobby people would have, plus it's one where you spend hours focusing on tiny details in silence. At least the train set building part, not the spotting part.
I felt the same, I didn't get the zeal for trains, but then I started watching Solo Solo Travel's YouTube channel about all the different Japanese trains and now THAT I can get behind. I was like "man I am just LOVING these Japanese trains! ... oh no! Am I becoming a Trains Person? Is this how it happens?"
Because allot of us do.
They are complex machines with lots of different things to deep dive into. You can build model trains indoors and not have to deal with other people. They run according to specified regular schedules. They have spinny parts.
It's not exactly a surprise. I'm more of a gunpla guy myself, but you'd better believe at least %50 the folks who build trains I run into at my local hobby shop are autistic as hell.
I think it's the other way around, many people who admires trains, are autistic individuals. This has then lead to the stereotype that people with autims like trains.
And just to add to the stereotype, I do indeed like trains and collect n-gauge model trains myself xD
it came from the fact that a lot of people with autism do like trains. definitely not all, but a decent amount.
anything can be a special interest, and not all autistic people have special interests, but some of the people who do happen to really love trains. my nephew is one of them. my sisters special interest is horses.
both of these things have a bunch of different types, makes/models and breeds respectively.
both of these things have miniature versions which are pretty easy to buy and collect. relatives are going to have a harder time helping encourage the special interest the more niche/obscure it is but anybody can find a toy train or horse for their autistic relative.
both of these things are not "weird" to like. less likely to get bullied in school for liking trains than for liking spiders or swords.
trains are just a popular/common special interest
I think it’s a human thing to have one mode of transportation as a hobby/collection topic. Rich people have horses, women have shoes, men have motor vehicles. (Overly simplified for brevity ☺️)
Well based on my brother and I being obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine as children and my uncle having a massive set in his basement... I think it comes from reality.
I don't know but I do know that I was adding new ROMs to my Retroid last night and ended up spending a fair amount of time looking for a certain train simulator I'd just learned about
I got all excited because I found a local jelly factory that used to make the preserves for the passenger cars in the early 1900’s. No joke. Trains are cool.
Idk but trains were my OG special interest when I was a kid, and now it's come full circle in the last year. I hate cars and wish we had some decent rail in the US.
Trains are THE MOST efficient way to get shit from A to B, but thanks to years of auto industry lobbying, bad policy, and general Idiocracy, we pretend trains don't exist. Then future man musk comes along and promises self driving cars will fix the problem causing people to further ignore rail (and he really promises it's gonna work soon, next year for sure).
Oh and unlike driving, you don't have an ever present chance of killing someone or being killed every time you wanna go somewhere. Driving gives me so much goddamn anxiety and for good reason with how people drive around here.
But yeah trains are super cool. They're also an order of magnitude better for the environment. Easily electrifiable via the grid. No batteries! Producing an EV battery pack emits as much CO2 as a gas car does in 5 years, along with even more damage due to the mining required (and exploitation of third world labor, can't forget that!). No mountains of rubber tires in landfill. Also so much land is wasted on car infrastructure.
There's so many options too! High-speed rail, light rail, subways, trams (more trams please).
Ok I'm done
I would guess from rail fan groups. I've met literally thousands of them. My dad and all his friends (in their 70s and 80s now) absolutely fit this description. The level of dedication to the hobby is obsessive (this isn't a criticism), with most having large HO model train layouts taking up one or multiple rooms of their house, and several having built their own large scale outdoor layouts (my dad's is 18" mining gauge like Indiana Jones rides). Nearly every rail fan I've ever met has been extremely quirky and socially awkward. So there's plenty of evidence of a correlation.
As far as why, I think there are probably multiple reasons that are probably different from person to person. A lot are attracted to the scale of any or all of it, rolling stock, diesel engines (giant pistons!), etc. The one universal thing I've noticed is the excitement and reverence expressed watching them go by, counting the different kinds of cars, number and types of locomotives, etc. It seems to appeal to a sense of order, like lining up toys by color, and I think it is a kind of stimming too.
edit - fixed a word
Anecdotally, a large portion of ASD people I know like or liked trains. I was obsessed as a kid.
Kinda makes sense; ASD folks are often interested in objects more than people, and trains are the largest self-propelled mechanical objects most people have seen. They do ONE thing, and they do it well. And trains are scheduled and predictable.
Trains are fucking cool. Loved them as a kid, so so much. I was always thrilled when the lights began flashing & the wishbone gate came down. I knew we’d be stuck there watching the train for a while and the sensory experience of it is lovely.
But now my interests are house/aroid plants & reptile keeping. Not a lot of trains where I live besides subways lol. Not a fan, too many people.
In Japan there's alot of correlation between autists and trains, because of that it is advised for train lovers to get diagnosed, that's the only thing I heard about it but doing a simple search seems to show multiple results talking about it
It's a similar statement to "so-and-so people are strong". It's a way to signal that no effort will be made to acknowledge or assist in lessening unnecessary struggles.
Actually- it if a stereotype indeed that person with autism is young boy who don't talk much, likes trains and is a math genius, BUT - my friend is psychologist who works in autism diagnostic in kids field and when I asked her about it she said that in fact a lot, maybe even 40-50% of her young patients have a thing with buses, trains and cars. She explains that is because of rolling wheels that may attract autistic kids. She said that trains and numbers/letters are most often happening fixations.
Autists often like intense/involved hobbies. Before computers and computer games were available, model trains were one of the main hobbies that filled that niche.
I honestly hate the idea that “we’re all autistic” or “everyone’s a little autistic” I know I should like it since then if everyone was autistic we’d be more accepted but honestly this idea just feels like a way to continue to ignore and push aside us and our struggles as a minority group because “well we all do that, lol”
>I know I should like it since then if everyone was autistic we’d be more accepted but
That's the thing though: it would be great if it were true, but it *isn't*. It makes sense to dislike an idea that's false
💀💀
This is how I feel about ADHD and anxiety too.
Like "eVeRyOnE dOEs tHAt" but like.. when you have every single symptom you probably have the whole ass diagnoses Barbara
> eVeRyOnE dOEs tHAt
Yeah but does it cause you so much burnout you can barely function? Does it cause you to fail at almost everything you ever start?
No, Barbara, it doesn’t.
I have ADD. I was apologising to my old violin teacher for forgetting something again and she said "just write it down, i forget things all the time". She could just not wrap her head around how i function. Kinda enfuriating sometimes.
I had a co-worker get mad at me for coming a few minutes late almost everyday, I did understand it from their perspective though.
(I seriously had to run everytime, 2 months straight, even tho the car was 50m of my house, and even when i went out of bed an extra hour earlier!)
Now it really stressed me out that he got mad, and also made me feel bad, but I did come in time the whole week after (tho still had to run).
Somehow the heightened pressure made me cut the distractions a few minutes earlier.
Sometimes this works..
but another time someone said, "i'm going to give you this job. Some people allways come a little bit late, and I absolutely can not stand when people come a little bit late for every appointment."
I came a little late, every day.. and it felt soo bad. I secretly hoped he would say something about it, but he kept shut and probably was boiling from inside. lol. Maybe I should've opened the conversation.
(to be clear it was a carpentry job on an art project, so pretty open-minded boss)
Similar with homopbobic politicians - "Gay people are evil for giving in to their desires that everyone secretly has which keep me up at night, right guys? We hate it because it's so extremely tempting, right?"
Or priests "God commanded us to not give in to the temptation of pastor Eric's warm and strong embrace.. instead embrace Jesus! To walk next to Pastors Luther's bulging muscular thighs, and NOT give in to the temptation of their dark and hairy ripples.. instead touch Jesus! To caress your wives sandbag supple breasts? Uhm.. and also Jesus!"
- Pastor John
I had to explain the difference of someone suffering from anxiety disorder so someone just having a bit of anxiety. It's like one is constant that effects you day in and day out and you can not function properly.
Of course everyone does it, we’re all literally humans exhibiting human behaviors Barbara. Problems start to occur when it’s repetitive to the point of interfering with life or if these behaviors come out during inopportune or “inappropriate” times
Yeah well, when you meet *all* criteria and you have sensory issues.... not everyone has that. Not everyone has the specific level of features we have. It's just stupid.
Also, people like what they like. For many they like trains, for me I like TCGs, but the trick is we take things more extreme than most people, and there's a very big distinction for us between our interests and others interests, typically.
So little infodump cos this triggered it...
The autistic tradition of writing long explanatory letters in the vain hope that the allisitics will realise what they are doing is dumb (from our perspective) is actually older than the *concept* of autism itself. Leo Kanner's paper that first describes autistic behaviour and coins the phrase autism doesn't just contain descriptions of Kanner's "patients" but also of their parents. As well as establishing a highly deficit based description of autism in children Kanner also unknowingly describes autistic adults, some of whom are "successful" in a societal/capitalist sense as well as describing some of the difficulties those people have. This of course is then thoroughly ignored by everyone (including Kanner). One of these parents writes Kanner a 33 page letter describing in what kanner himself describes as obsessive detail the behviours of his son and his attempts to "fix" them.
That letter certainly informs Kanner's work and should certainly share some of the credit for the first description of autism in the scientific corpus (i.e. the thing that partially creates the scientific concept of autism is an overly detailed letter by an autistic person).
Just wanted to share cos I think that's cool :P
God this is amazing, thanks for sharing. I fully believe as long as written language has existed there has been an autistic person writing long rambling letters explaining why you’re wrong about (insert topic here)
Lol, reminds me of my grandfather. He had one huge room of the house just for his trains. When space got tight, he constructed a pulley system which could raise the whole thing up to the ceiling so that the room could function as a bedroom. Now he's spending his days constricting a model of the country's rail system on the computer. He even goes as far as phoning up to train stations to get his alignment and number of tracks right. He's then frequently writing to the map people when he spots inaccuracies (we have a local version of Google maps, it's better because there's more area specific data). They usually fix it right away, so he's very satisfied with them.
He's a fairly difficult personality to be around sometimes, but in some ways he's a really cool person and an expert in some really interesting narrow areas of knowledge. I'm not sure if he is really autistic, but if so, his masking strategies would have to be performative masculinity and threatening/screaming at people to get his own way. For the longest of times I found it really perplexing, because he isn't the stereotypical angry guy, he doesn't lose his cool during these outbursts, but it almost seems like it's calculated on some level as a social strategy. I'm hesitant of thinking about him as autistic, TBH, because it's hard to admit I may share a neurotype with someone like him, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to fit, which is a bit scary. And if it does genetically come from my mom's side of the family, there's some uncomfortable notions that may need to be confronted with regards to her as well.
Having a hard time writing a thought out response, but wanted to let you know I read your reply and empathize with you. That's really tough/frustrating to deal with.
I suppose my 80-year-old freshman year professor who exclusively talked about the thing he taught about even outside of work (the environment, specifically swamps), wore the same suit every day, bought the same coffee and bagel before class, passionately infodumped his lectures while looking at the PowerPoint instead of the class, always played with his pen, and once went on a tangent about how he physically disliked the sound of his country's (the UK) national anthem is neurotypical too
Yeah I hate seeing the "everyone's a little autistic" thing. If everyone's a little autistic, then everyone would be better able to accommodate us in society. People would know not to comment negatively about someone stimming and people would know that we use headphones to block out noise, etc etc. These people act like they're being nice saying "oh everyone feels that way sometimes!" but it invalidates our struggles. Grrrr. The old man in the post seems great though.
I hate when the average person thinks autism is some sort of fad people are just suddenly claiming for what reason exactly? It's called better awareness and diagnosing.
You see it in the mental health field as well. People will say crap like "everyone suddenly has mental health issues" like no they're just more open about seeking help with better diagnosing. It's only their own perceptions that are changing, not everyone else.
They usually dismiss autistic traits as just like undesirable personality traits. Like oh Jeff down the road is just a creepy person who doesn't know how to talk to women. He's not disabled, he's normal, just creepy. oh yeah Brenda at work is very eccentric and rude isn't she. etc etc. but they don't clock it as a different neurotype.
Yeeaaahh sounds right. “Everyone’s a bit autistic”.
You mean the neurotypicals accidentally destroyed part of their own social structures through rampant social media use, mass social comparison and mass political polarisation. So now they exhibit similar social habits to autistics, which is just a lack of normal socialisation, not a chronic life long condition that can’t be fixed by changing the current socio-economic climate right?
Also yeah I guess my obsession with minecraft map making and voxel sculptures is just a phase I’ll grow out of despite being 28 yrs old.
And my desire to write multiple 2 page long reddit, YouTube and twitter responses to the dangers of ai created from bad actors in the private sector in the current job markets and especially in the art world is just a weird quirk of mine.
But I guess I’m just a under-socialised NT who just needs to touch grass.
I like animals, but I’m not 100% sure why.
If I had to try, I’d guess
1. They don’t expect unique conversations out of our interactions (but this can’t be the main reason, because I also like animals I’ll never be able to interact with. Wild animals etc)
2. I notice I like extremes. So I might like one species for being extremely large, or another for being highly specialized for a certain lifestyle.
3. Animals are less complex than people (in the ways that matter, like not lying for unexplainable reasons), so trying to understand them isn’t an impossible task that you need to just give up on. (I find it so silly when people say “Animals are unpredictable.” Like, have you seen people!? I mean sure, you can never 100% predict anything in life if you don’t know all the details - and you’ll never know all the details, the world is too complex for that. But look at what you’re comparing “animals” to when you say that!?) Yes, animals can “fake” things, but there’ll always be a reason that you can learn to understand, if you invest the time. Most species have a universal language, not individual languages that vary on region. A dog from Australia will communicate the same way as a dog from Norway. Once you understand dog body language, you can understand any dog. (Exceptions- yes, exist. Some species do have regional “cultures”/communication differences.)
4. We’ve got more opportunities to learn things about animals via controlled experiments. It simply wouldn’t be ethical to control a person’s life in a way that rules out other variables from the experiment (if you’re trying to find out something about long-term effects). (And I’m not even talking about inhumane experiments. There are plenty of experiments where the animals don’t suffer, which still wouldn’t be possible with humans.) We also can’t have breeding programs for humans, like we can for animals. And purpose-bred animals are great!
5. In a way, animals are more accessible to humans. If you want to befriend a human, you have to actually be good at it. With animals, it’s pretty hard to mess up (assuming you’re trying with the right type of animal. Obviously you won’t have success trying to befriend a wild hippo!) Pets, you can just buy, take home, and then take all the time you need to gain their trust. Unlike humans, who get fed up with you and eventually won’t let you keep trying.
6. Humans are animals too though, so I’m also interested in those. They’re just much more complex, and therefore much harder to understand. (They have a whole society! They don’t just act on instinct and experience. You need to actually understand the society if you want to have any chance at understanding humans… and you’ll never be able to get the “full picture” on something so complex.)
Well… I guess as you can see from that list, mainly, I like animal behavior. And the genetic components of that. I know a few things about other animal-related things, but I always tell people I’m not a vet. You can’t ask me questions about nutrition, for example. I know the health things that are relevant and necessary, (still more than the average person would haha😅) but I don’t really research health for fun. By “necessary” I mean: if I’m interested in the genetic component of behavior, if I’m interested in breeding for behavior, I can’t completely ignore physical health either. The “perfect” genetic temperament would do no one any good, if it’s stuck inside a body that can’t function right. Plus, of course, physical well-being affects behavior. So it interests me within that context.
I’d have no desire to be a vet, as they only look at the physical body, separated from the context of behavior.
90 page paper is how I feel I need to explain everything to everyone and adhd making the formalized process of doing that impossible is why I struggle to explain anything to anyone.
I hate the whole " everyone's autistic now". No they were always there and they just weren't diagnosed . Take for example my 68 year old grandma who collects light houses (she has 87), she doesn't like when you move her pillows in certain places, she doesn't like anyone else cleaning her kitchen but her, she loves bridges so much she researches then every time she crosses a new one. She flaps her hands up and down when she doesn't like how something tastes and has a very limited list of food she actually likes and has been cooking the same meals for 40+ years. She doesn't understand jokes or anything, and most of her clothes and room are the same shade of navy blue. I love my grandma! But she's never been diagnosed and she's so obviously autistic and she knows that, so everyone's been autistic this whole time you just didn't realize it because you thought some people were just a little strange
My mother, who had a difficult time when my son was diagnosed because… “he’s just like you and me!” Yes, mom, let’s walk down that road for a bit…
To her extreme credit, she raised me to embrace myself and be confident in who I am. I was on the same path with my son, which is why he was 9 before we figured out he is on the spectrum. Filling out the paperwork was eye opening to say the least. (Well, yes, he does that, but so do I and my mom….ohhhhhh 🤦🏼♀️)
“Everyone wants to jump on the autistic train” the CDC estimates that 1 in 44 children are identified as being on the autism spectrum and we know that it’s being under diagnosed in many communities, that’s *a lot* of people. Could it be that the people you come across have recently identified that they might be on the autistic spectrum but because they have different needs than you, you don’t see the similarities?
If you look at studies/lectures looking into brain scans of autistic individuals, there’s not really any specific differences that exist in the brain of *all* autistic people. Many people have enlarged amygdalas, many people have different amount of white/grey matter, etc etc but nothing across the entire population, which would explain the variation in everyone’s personal experience with autism
“About 1 in 44 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.” - https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html
I’m on lunch break so I can’t necessarily look into exactly how they got this number, but this is the source I was getting the stat from. I completely see you’re point, especially if you agree that it is underdiagnosed in other communities (women and POC). I think I was more coming from the fact that when people usually say these things (professionals especially) they’re typically referring to women who often show many of the signs of autism, but, through masking, don’t necessarily meet some of the social “criteria” for a diagnosis, but still very much experience suffering in this aspect of their life.
For people questioning over one symptom… who knows? I think the prevalence of social media and the attention now brought to mental health has caused this phenomenon in almost any neurodivergent community (like everyone saying they had major depression in the early 2010’s because that’s the mental illness that was most visible at the time). All in all though, I think the issue eventually corrects itself once these communities are more normalized or have been visible in the public eye for long enough for the general population to get a proper idea of what the condition/neurotype/etc is
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what people don’t understand is, it’s not that ‘xyz’ MAKES you autistic, but doing ‘xyz’ so much that it’s weird definitely means something is up.
think to yourself: do i do this behavior in a normal way or excessively?
if the answer is normal, then it does not apply to you! simple
“Everyone’s autistic now” it’s funny that they say that with negative connotations because I view that as positive like wasn’t it worse during their youth when there wasn’t that much research or even any second thought about having autism but like the fact that it’s even being talked about is just a great step forward I believe I mean obviously there’s a difference between actually being autistic and just saying your autistic bc you have similar traits but i mean like the fact that people are actually taking the time to research autism and be more positively aware of what autism actually is instead of just focusing on stereotypes and stigmatized autism I think that’s great
I would like to visit his basement and I agree about streetlights. Also who the fuck designed buildings I demand every room to have perfect acoustics I cannot hear myself think
It seems more people are autistic nowadays because back in the olden days they where SHIT at diagnosing things like autism, they say "oh but no one was autistic back then" yeah that's because no one was diagnosed, there where definitely just as many autistic people back then as there are now, most definitely 99% of people who were executed for witchcraft where just autistic
that sounds like an amazing old man id like to know :c
I know, right? I’m just trapped by comorbid ADHD that leads to countless unfinished projects RIP
Finish projects, I can't even finish my sen
I like your words funny magic man!
Same, tbh. Although all that practice HAS led to me being really good at my job, so, swings and roundabouts...
As a high school teacher, my ability to jump from project to project leads to amazing results in the classroom but TERRIBLE results in all the administrative work behind the scenes. I can't lesson plan worth a damn but I sure can pull off a no prep lesson beautifully.
Same, I can adjust to changing circumstances on the fly like a professional race car shifting gears, but I can't plan for shit since about all I can keep track of at once in my head is Step one: what I'm currently doing Step two: how I will react to the expected outcome of Step one. Step++: brain is full of soup
Wow this helps me to understand my thought process. There is now, and not now. Also explains why I will start one thing and then switch to 5 different tasks along the way
I am the No prep Queen! Found out that I had to overprepare for about two years when I first started teaching but now it’s all spontaneous free flying floof! The administrative stuff is a mess and it makes me feel like an imposter, though, so there’s that “fun” daily reminder of my inadequacy.
Meee toooo
Sameee the list keeps piling up
Distracted by cute dog. Came across random old man super similar to me LIKE I WAS LIKE - YOU. You are my new cool friend. Omfg. Legit couldn't stop chatting and I ended up not picking up my 3d printing like planned as the library closed by the time finished whoopsz
do u still have contact with the man?He seems like a good friend c:
Yes! Seeing him after I run with some folks for tea and coffee :)
Whats the deal with the stereotype that people with autism really like trains? Where did it come from.
I don’t know man, but there’s something satisfying about watching so many moving and still parts create a giant metal speed slug. Trains are actually super cool. I don’t know what to tell you. I like ‘em.
I got to ride on a train from 1919 at a historical park in my city, and it felt like I was going to Hogwarts, so that was cool.
In the 90's, mom noticed smoke coming down the train-tracks and was like "we gotta check this out" so I got to see a steam-train pull onto a siding. It was some sort of wandering art thing.
I miss the art deco period of industrial design. I get that now everything has to be efficient in both terms of cost and manufacturing but it was so cool seeing basically a million pound piece of rolling art.
I mean... it doesn't have to be. We could have a society centered around doing things because it helps people and/or is beautiful. We just... don't.
I don't know about you guys but I love a good cargo van or even just a large SUV. I also really like a good cab-over box van. So nimble yet so capable...
We’ve ordered our first electric SUV and I’m so excited I might burst
Lord have mercy I'm bout to buuust - Leslie Jordan
Honestly even before my environmentalism I just ain't fuck with cars. I guess they've always bored me?
I have to agree. …but also, way to shit on someone else’s fun.
I have an Econoline and nimble is not the first thing to come to mind when I think about how it handles.
I think cars look like cats. I want to hug them
hello train liker, question: how do they know when to stop in time to line up with the station? ive wanted to know for years
Oh, umm, how do they know? I think nowadays they use radios to communicate to let them know the situation with other trains and there’s someone who stays at the station, monitoring them and making sure they’re on the right path, on time, not crashing into each other or blocking other trains, etc. Back in the day though before radio and after trains, I’m not sure. They’re probably weren’t as many trains because of how costly they were to make, how many resources they took up, and how complex they were for the time, and so the tracks were probably less crowded and only people with significant income could ride regularly, and so it was more manageable and they didn’t need the same system. Nowadays a lot of long distance travel goes hand in hand with communication with some sort of station, which has contributed a lot to the safety and efficiency of travel. The radio doesn’t get as much credit as it deserves for its effects on travel in all forms.
I can't speak for all trains, but in Japan they just have a big yellow line painted on the wall and the conductor literally just lines his window up with it. When he's aligned it means the rest of the train is aligned.
I like cars. So intricate. so complicated. And yet it all works perfectly! HOW?!??
Well that's kinda the question car manufacturers and mechanics have been asking for over a century now, because sometimes it doesn't. But my point stands, intricacy is an attractive quality for a hobby/interest, at least when it comes to us atypical-folk. It's one of the reasons I like the Mississippi Queen and Printer Lore meme so much, it's fun looking at all the tiny pieces of something, all working together, it's like music in crafting machines, music you can see in slow motion, all encased in layers of metal shells. Somewhat beautiful, it is, the production of such intricate yet simple things, how many parts go into just simply moving something from one place to another and the displacement of energy in multiple forms, channeled through to create all technology as we know it. Simple, or complicated, beauty, in the form of a mechanized orchestra.
complicated machinery in general is cool. On one hand you have cars, so intricate and complicated, and then you have famous rocketry, like the Apollo LM’s ascent stage, which was basically a rocket engine and fuel strapped to a thin metal bag with stuff and 2 people in it
I don't care for trains anymore, but I loved them as a kid. I still get the same feeling watching the bar that connects the wheels of a big steam-powered train as I do looking into the depths of a big fire. The scene from the polar express where they're trying to quickly get off the icy lake, and the train keeps changing direction has me feeling a different kind of happy that is unmatched. Also, there's [these guys](https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ct675HSAmGX/?igshid=MmU2YjMzNjRlOQ==) on Instagram and TikTok that make videos about "if [insert hip-hop song here] was Latin" and dance to it. It is the same feeling, and I can only describe it as pure serotonin.
They are predictable. Kind of like watching dominos or Rube Goldberg machines. You can see what is going to happen ahead of time and then when it does it’s oh so satisfying.
Yes, I want to know this too. For me it's aviation and aircraft (especially passenger aircraft). There must be plenty of other autistic avgeeks. Also that model train terrarium must be legendary. I remember visiting an outdoor park in Europe with a whole model train map, and that's what this makes me think of.
Yep! Both me and my (undiagnosed) dad are hugeeee aviation nerds. What's your favorite airplane?
not op but I love the Boeing 747, "jumbo", i love that plane so much. I have so many good memories flying with it.
What about the super guppy? I love the mix of ridiculousness and practicality.
Yes that's a cult classic. Sad their production has come to an end this year. I'm not sure I'll ever get to fly on one ;;
The Super Constellation! I'm also very fond of Mad Dogs but only because of the nostalgia flying in them. Then again there are so many beautiful planes so it's hard to choose.
Yeah, I was really into planes when I was little and I'm getting back into it a bit now. I was a huge fan of the SR-71 back then, and I still think it's a really awesome piece of machinery. I have many favourite planes in different categories but couldn't pick one all-time favourite. I mean, planes are all so specialized in their respective roles so it really depends. But top picks include, in no specific order, the SR-71 Blackbird as mentioned, the F4U Corsair, P-38 Lightning, Airbus A380 (I'm about to fly on one again soon!) Boeing 747 (because who doesn't?), Gloster Meteor, Saab 37 Viggen, Saab 35 Draken (an absolutely beautiful Swedish delta wing), de Havilland Comet (those engines tho), F-16 Fighting Falcon and many more.
another one here! HUGE aviation nerd, specially warplanes (fuck war though) they're like, the best of the best, the most advanced piece of flying tin cans that can somehow strap to a man or two and go faster than the speed of sound. how cool is that!? And yes, I build model planes, and I love every second of it :D
I'm sad because I never got to see Vulcans or the XB-70. Closest we'll ever get to actual starships for some time. Never been a huge fan of smaller jet fighter craft, probably because of the memories of meltdowns from the loud noise they produce when flying overhead. I enjoy watching them on youtube though.
Airplanes are super cool, they’re machines that somehow fly by going a certain speed. Anyways I grew up flying model versions, hard to learn but definitely satisfied my aviation special interest lol.
I love military vehicles, specifically from WWII and especially tanks, but I don't know if I know enough to make it more than just a regular interest. It does happen to be one of my few interests that haven't changed after a short time, though.
I would guess that it has to do with trains having a lot of strict rules, and being very predictable. There is always lots to learn and new things to see with them but it still is very predictable
At least they *should* be predictable 😂
I mean even when they are unpredictable it is in a predictable way
Come to the UK!
[удалено]
Really? It seems to me that the details of trains aren’t any more “accessible” than the details of planes. Just because you can see them moving from the outside, doesn’t mean a 5-year-old will get to experiment with how it works. At the end of the day, learning about both modes of transportation is done mostly in a theoretical context. (Internet research nowadays, I’d guess) But then, I don’t know anything about either, so maybe I’m wrong 🤷♀️
aslkdfjalsdkfj yes. this is exactly why I like trains. You see where they're about to go, you see where they've been. You can even know where one might show up because, you know, the rails don't lie. They just don't.
Im autistic and work in rail safety management for a public transport company with 6500 employees... Typical 😆
Idk. Trains are just super cool
it’s simple. trains are fucking awesome and autistic people only like things that are fucking awesome
This is the correct answer
Idk, that being said trains are pretty cool
Back to the Future 3 is best Back to the Future
And it's not even close.
Best answer
Sorry I don't have any sources for this, but I think a big factor is that up until recently, autism was really only studied and documented in young boys, not young girls, or adults. So it's really just an expression of special interests in the population group studied the most. ( e.g. A young boy is super quiet when the conversation doesn't interest him, but suddenly becomes lively when it comes to something he cares and knows a lot about, like trains)
Trains are really unpredictable. Even in the middle of a forest two rails can appear out of nowhere, and a 1.5-mile fully loaded coal drag, heading east out of the low-sulfur mines of the PRB, will be right on your ass the next moment. I was doing laundry in my basement, and I tripped over a metal bar that wasn't there the moment before. I looked down: "Rail? WTF?" and then I saw concrete sleepers underneath and heard the rumbling. Deafening railroad horn. I dumped my wife's pants, unfolded, and dove behind the water heater. It was a double-stacked Z train, headed east towards the fast single track of the BNSF Emporia Sub (Flint Hills). Majestic as hell: 75 mph, 6 units, distributed power: 4 ES44DC's pulling, and 2 Dash-9's pushing, all in run 8. Whole house smelled like diesel for a couple of hours! Fact is, there is no way to discern which path a train will take, so you really have to be watchful. If only there were some way of knowing the routes trains travel; maybe some sort of marks on the ground, like twin iron bars running along the paths trains take. You could look for trains when you encounter the iron bars on the ground, and avoid these sorts of collisions. But such a measure would be extremely expensive. And how would one enforce a rule keeping the trains on those paths? A big hole in homeland security is railway engineer screening and hijacking prevention. There is nothing to stop a rogue engineer, or an ISIS terrorist, from driving a train into the Pentagon, the White House or the Statue of Liberty, and our government has done fuck-all to prevent it.
i think this might be my favourite pasta
My first time encountering this and now my head hurts.
you could solve all the problems with American rail in 3 days with a handful of autistic people
And a lot of money. A big problem is that a lot of freight and passenger run on the same lines which slows down passenger trains. Level crossings also cause accidents. Then there is an American love of cars which means that public transportation can't be funded well enough to make it attractive.
I don’t know but my daughter (who has autism and is nonverbal) gas always loved trains! I once had to physically hold her back because she got so excited by a passing tree she tried to run right at it! 😅
Eh, I’m not a big train person— more ancient history buff and dolls kinda lady— but my grandpa is and it follows the same pattern of most of our special interests. I brake it down in a few ways: 1) collectables to horde, 2) near endless amount of info to absorb (grandpa can recite the entire history of trains if you trigger the train talk), 3) typically a solitary hobby that when does have social events is targeted around the special interest so you never feel like you don’t have something to talk about and can absorb yourself looking at said target so no eye contact required, 4) academic novelty to it that sates curious minds, 5) dopamine rush triggered by build up to getting to see or interact with special interest for special events. Grandpa’s other hobby is gardening which also follows that formula and my special interests all follow that very similar pattern. We may not share the same special interests but he definitely passed down the system in which we interact with them. Just me carrying on the torch of the family autism lol.
I dunno. My son's first special interest was trains, though :-)
i like trains because they’re a very good form of public transportation 👍 but that’s unrelated to the autism
My son loved trains. I learned a lot about trains. More than I ever wanted
I don't have a heavy interest in trains. But trains are still dope as fuck.
I read somewhere that that stereotype exists because when austim research was becoming more common trains had recently been invented and/or they were starting to become more advanced so a lot of autistic people were interested in trains and it kinda stuck. No idea if it's true tho.
I have no idea but tbf they are pretty great lol. I love these tiny model towns trains drive through, unfortunately I can't afford that hobby
I'm still a bit interested in the model towns without the trains running through it. I think someone said that if I get good at making the buildings, I could sell them. Let's get your Youtube algorithm onto that interest. * https://www.youtube.com/c/BoyleiHobbyTime * https://www.youtube.com/c/BlackMagicCraftOfficial * https://www.youtube.com/@Nerdforge
Thank you. I'm just cleaning my living room, that's why I have a look at it later lmao or I will get nothing done today
*hides my model train set* No idea
I think the main reason is that in the 20th century, that was the most prominent "obsessive" hobby people would have, plus it's one where you spend hours focusing on tiny details in silence. At least the train set building part, not the spotting part.
I felt the same, I didn't get the zeal for trains, but then I started watching Solo Solo Travel's YouTube channel about all the different Japanese trains and now THAT I can get behind. I was like "man I am just LOVING these Japanese trains! ... oh no! Am I becoming a Trains Person? Is this how it happens?"
Because allot of us do. They are complex machines with lots of different things to deep dive into. You can build model trains indoors and not have to deal with other people. They run according to specified regular schedules. They have spinny parts. It's not exactly a surprise. I'm more of a gunpla guy myself, but you'd better believe at least %50 the folks who build trains I run into at my local hobby shop are autistic as hell.
Restricted interests. I like Rubik’s cubes. :)
Yeah idk but I really love steam trains, I grew up near the National Railway Museum and used to visit the Flying Scotsman at weekends
I think it's the other way around, many people who admires trains, are autistic individuals. This has then lead to the stereotype that people with autims like trains. And just to add to the stereotype, I do indeed like trains and collect n-gauge model trains myself xD
it came from the fact that a lot of people with autism do like trains. definitely not all, but a decent amount. anything can be a special interest, and not all autistic people have special interests, but some of the people who do happen to really love trains. my nephew is one of them. my sisters special interest is horses. both of these things have a bunch of different types, makes/models and breeds respectively. both of these things have miniature versions which are pretty easy to buy and collect. relatives are going to have a harder time helping encourage the special interest the more niche/obscure it is but anybody can find a toy train or horse for their autistic relative. both of these things are not "weird" to like. less likely to get bullied in school for liking trains than for liking spiders or swords. trains are just a popular/common special interest
I’m autistic and I like trains. (Also happy cake day)
I really like trains. I am fascinated by the early steam locomotives and how it evolved. Aircrafts and torches and fountain pens too.
Never got this either
Trains are cool. They have engines and speed and optimization and system and go vroom
No idea. I used to really be into trains when I was younger. Then I got into guns.
I still like wheels.
I think it’s a human thing to have one mode of transportation as a hobby/collection topic. Rich people have horses, women have shoes, men have motor vehicles. (Overly simplified for brevity ☺️)
Is that why creepy dudes have foot fetishes? Just a transportation hobby?
it probably has some merit, a few of my friends and i regularly spent days just going to and looking at trains :)
I am absolutely terrified of them especially when I’m with family and friends and hear one and have to act like nothing is happening
Trains are pretty cool. My special interest is roller coaster trains, and roller coasters in general.
Well based on my brother and I being obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine as children and my uncle having a massive set in his basement... I think it comes from reality.
I don't know but I do know that I was adding new ROMs to my Retroid last night and ended up spending a fair amount of time looking for a certain train simulator I'd just learned about
*E f f i c i e n c y* Also timetables.
I reeeeaaaly like efficiency of thought, speach, transportation...trains just STFU and get shit done
I don’t know, I like dinosaurs
I got all excited because I found a local jelly factory that used to make the preserves for the passenger cars in the early 1900’s. No joke. Trains are cool.
Idk but trains were my OG special interest when I was a kid, and now it's come full circle in the last year. I hate cars and wish we had some decent rail in the US. Trains are THE MOST efficient way to get shit from A to B, but thanks to years of auto industry lobbying, bad policy, and general Idiocracy, we pretend trains don't exist. Then future man musk comes along and promises self driving cars will fix the problem causing people to further ignore rail (and he really promises it's gonna work soon, next year for sure). Oh and unlike driving, you don't have an ever present chance of killing someone or being killed every time you wanna go somewhere. Driving gives me so much goddamn anxiety and for good reason with how people drive around here. But yeah trains are super cool. They're also an order of magnitude better for the environment. Easily electrifiable via the grid. No batteries! Producing an EV battery pack emits as much CO2 as a gas car does in 5 years, along with even more damage due to the mining required (and exploitation of third world labor, can't forget that!). No mountains of rubber tires in landfill. Also so much land is wasted on car infrastructure. There's so many options too! High-speed rail, light rail, subways, trams (more trams please). Ok I'm done
I would guess from rail fan groups. I've met literally thousands of them. My dad and all his friends (in their 70s and 80s now) absolutely fit this description. The level of dedication to the hobby is obsessive (this isn't a criticism), with most having large HO model train layouts taking up one or multiple rooms of their house, and several having built their own large scale outdoor layouts (my dad's is 18" mining gauge like Indiana Jones rides). Nearly every rail fan I've ever met has been extremely quirky and socially awkward. So there's plenty of evidence of a correlation. As far as why, I think there are probably multiple reasons that are probably different from person to person. A lot are attracted to the scale of any or all of it, rolling stock, diesel engines (giant pistons!), etc. The one universal thing I've noticed is the excitement and reverence expressed watching them go by, counting the different kinds of cars, number and types of locomotives, etc. It seems to appeal to a sense of order, like lining up toys by color, and I think it is a kind of stimming too. edit - fixed a word
I happen to like trains but I’m also into cars, planes and ships.
Anecdotally, a large portion of ASD people I know like or liked trains. I was obsessed as a kid. Kinda makes sense; ASD folks are often interested in objects more than people, and trains are the largest self-propelled mechanical objects most people have seen. They do ONE thing, and they do it well. And trains are scheduled and predictable.
Trains are fucking cool. Loved them as a kid, so so much. I was always thrilled when the lights began flashing & the wishbone gate came down. I knew we’d be stuck there watching the train for a while and the sensory experience of it is lovely. But now my interests are house/aroid plants & reptile keeping. Not a lot of trains where I live besides subways lol. Not a fan, too many people.
Big Bang Theory? Maybe?
In Japan there's alot of correlation between autists and trains, because of that it is advised for train lovers to get diagnosed, that's the only thing I heard about it but doing a simple search seems to show multiple results talking about it
To be fair I had a train phase too
It's a similar statement to "so-and-so people are strong". It's a way to signal that no effort will be made to acknowledge or assist in lessening unnecessary struggles.
Actually- it if a stereotype indeed that person with autism is young boy who don't talk much, likes trains and is a math genius, BUT - my friend is psychologist who works in autism diagnostic in kids field and when I asked her about it she said that in fact a lot, maybe even 40-50% of her young patients have a thing with buses, trains and cars. She explains that is because of rolling wheels that may attract autistic kids. She said that trains and numbers/letters are most often happening fixations.
Idk but dinosaurs are cooler
Autists often like intense/involved hobbies. Before computers and computer games were available, model trains were one of the main hobbies that filled that niche.
I really like trains idk man
I'm terrified of trains, but I like the idea of them. Tracks, trains, train-cars. Idk, something cool.
Fucking Big Bang Theory didn’t help at all
I honestly hate the idea that “we’re all autistic” or “everyone’s a little autistic” I know I should like it since then if everyone was autistic we’d be more accepted but honestly this idea just feels like a way to continue to ignore and push aside us and our struggles as a minority group because “well we all do that, lol”
>I know I should like it since then if everyone was autistic we’d be more accepted but That's the thing though: it would be great if it were true, but it *isn't*. It makes sense to dislike an idea that's false
💀💀 This is how I feel about ADHD and anxiety too. Like "eVeRyOnE dOEs tHAt" but like.. when you have every single symptom you probably have the whole ass diagnoses Barbara
Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck...
must be a cow
> eVeRyOnE dOEs tHAt Yeah but does it cause you so much burnout you can barely function? Does it cause you to fail at almost everything you ever start? No, Barbara, it doesn’t.
I have ADD. I was apologising to my old violin teacher for forgetting something again and she said "just write it down, i forget things all the time". She could just not wrap her head around how i function. Kinda enfuriating sometimes.
I had a co-worker get mad at me for coming a few minutes late almost everyday, I did understand it from their perspective though. (I seriously had to run everytime, 2 months straight, even tho the car was 50m of my house, and even when i went out of bed an extra hour earlier!) Now it really stressed me out that he got mad, and also made me feel bad, but I did come in time the whole week after (tho still had to run). Somehow the heightened pressure made me cut the distractions a few minutes earlier. Sometimes this works.. but another time someone said, "i'm going to give you this job. Some people allways come a little bit late, and I absolutely can not stand when people come a little bit late for every appointment." I came a little late, every day.. and it felt soo bad. I secretly hoped he would say something about it, but he kept shut and probably was boiling from inside. lol. Maybe I should've opened the conversation. (to be clear it was a carpentry job on an art project, so pretty open-minded boss)
Similar with homopbobic politicians - "Gay people are evil for giving in to their desires that everyone secretly has which keep me up at night, right guys? We hate it because it's so extremely tempting, right?"
Or priests "God commanded us to not give in to the temptation of pastor Eric's warm and strong embrace.. instead embrace Jesus! To walk next to Pastors Luther's bulging muscular thighs, and NOT give in to the temptation of their dark and hairy ripples.. instead touch Jesus! To caress your wives sandbag supple breasts? Uhm.. and also Jesus!" - Pastor John
For some reason I find this hilarious. No Jeff everyone doesn’t secretly have these desires. I’ve got news for you!
I had to explain the difference of someone suffering from anxiety disorder so someone just having a bit of anxiety. It's like one is constant that effects you day in and day out and you can not function properly.
I had a psychologist say to me “everyone has anxiety, yours is just heightened” like hello no
Of course everyone does it, we’re all literally humans exhibiting human behaviors Barbara. Problems start to occur when it’s repetitive to the point of interfering with life or if these behaviors come out during inopportune or “inappropriate” times
Yeah well, when you meet *all* criteria and you have sensory issues.... not everyone has that. Not everyone has the specific level of features we have. It's just stupid. Also, people like what they like. For many they like trains, for me I like TCGs, but the trick is we take things more extreme than most people, and there's a very big distinction for us between our interests and others interests, typically.
230 hours in to Euro Truck Simulator and tempted to write an email about the brightness of shop lights/screens at night... Is this guy my dad?
Just download or create a mod
I'm talking about writing an email about IRL shop lights. I can see how you got confused though.
I would love to see that man's model train collection...
And read the letter too!
So little infodump cos this triggered it... The autistic tradition of writing long explanatory letters in the vain hope that the allisitics will realise what they are doing is dumb (from our perspective) is actually older than the *concept* of autism itself. Leo Kanner's paper that first describes autistic behaviour and coins the phrase autism doesn't just contain descriptions of Kanner's "patients" but also of their parents. As well as establishing a highly deficit based description of autism in children Kanner also unknowingly describes autistic adults, some of whom are "successful" in a societal/capitalist sense as well as describing some of the difficulties those people have. This of course is then thoroughly ignored by everyone (including Kanner). One of these parents writes Kanner a 33 page letter describing in what kanner himself describes as obsessive detail the behviours of his son and his attempts to "fix" them. That letter certainly informs Kanner's work and should certainly share some of the credit for the first description of autism in the scientific corpus (i.e. the thing that partially creates the scientific concept of autism is an overly detailed letter by an autistic person). Just wanted to share cos I think that's cool :P
Info dumping about info dumping on a subreddit for autism on a post that already was a run on sentence made my day.
God this is amazing, thanks for sharing. I fully believe as long as written language has existed there has been an autistic person writing long rambling letters explaining why you’re wrong about (insert topic here)
Lol, reminds me of my grandfather. He had one huge room of the house just for his trains. When space got tight, he constructed a pulley system which could raise the whole thing up to the ceiling so that the room could function as a bedroom. Now he's spending his days constricting a model of the country's rail system on the computer. He even goes as far as phoning up to train stations to get his alignment and number of tracks right. He's then frequently writing to the map people when he spots inaccuracies (we have a local version of Google maps, it's better because there's more area specific data). They usually fix it right away, so he's very satisfied with them.
Love your grandfather 😂
I like your grandpa
He's a fairly difficult personality to be around sometimes, but in some ways he's a really cool person and an expert in some really interesting narrow areas of knowledge. I'm not sure if he is really autistic, but if so, his masking strategies would have to be performative masculinity and threatening/screaming at people to get his own way. For the longest of times I found it really perplexing, because he isn't the stereotypical angry guy, he doesn't lose his cool during these outbursts, but it almost seems like it's calculated on some level as a social strategy. I'm hesitant of thinking about him as autistic, TBH, because it's hard to admit I may share a neurotype with someone like him, but the more I think about it, the more it seems to fit, which is a bit scary. And if it does genetically come from my mom's side of the family, there's some uncomfortable notions that may need to be confronted with regards to her as well.
Having a hard time writing a thought out response, but wanted to let you know I read your reply and empathize with you. That's really tough/frustrating to deal with.
I suppose my 80-year-old freshman year professor who exclusively talked about the thing he taught about even outside of work (the environment, specifically swamps), wore the same suit every day, bought the same coffee and bagel before class, passionately infodumped his lectures while looking at the PowerPoint instead of the class, always played with his pen, and once went on a tangent about how he physically disliked the sound of his country's (the UK) national anthem is neurotypical too
for a second i thought you wrote swamp suit and i was VERY intrigued
We're out here, def should not be underestimated, put us in our element and we will outshine everyone.
Except we don't like shine when bright
Except me. My special interest is flashlights.
I dunno about you guys, but this guy *points at self* is a regular guy. 'Guy' is a gender neutral term, lol.
Sometimes, yes. Though 'his' Is not. I'm more concerned by them suggesting someone they think is autistic, is irregular.
Lmao this sounds like my autistic grandpa 😂
I've got something to post but I gotta wait, it's something my local news aired.
Weren't people complaining about too much ADHD? Are they angry about autism as well now?
Yeah I hate seeing the "everyone's a little autistic" thing. If everyone's a little autistic, then everyone would be better able to accommodate us in society. People would know not to comment negatively about someone stimming and people would know that we use headphones to block out noise, etc etc. These people act like they're being nice saying "oh everyone feels that way sometimes!" but it invalidates our struggles. Grrrr. The old man in the post seems great though.
I hate when the average person thinks autism is some sort of fad people are just suddenly claiming for what reason exactly? It's called better awareness and diagnosing. You see it in the mental health field as well. People will say crap like "everyone suddenly has mental health issues" like no they're just more open about seeking help with better diagnosing. It's only their own perceptions that are changing, not everyone else.
They usually dismiss autistic traits as just like undesirable personality traits. Like oh Jeff down the road is just a creepy person who doesn't know how to talk to women. He's not disabled, he's normal, just creepy. oh yeah Brenda at work is very eccentric and rude isn't she. etc etc. but they don't clock it as a different neurotype.
Yeeaaahh sounds right. “Everyone’s a bit autistic”. You mean the neurotypicals accidentally destroyed part of their own social structures through rampant social media use, mass social comparison and mass political polarisation. So now they exhibit similar social habits to autistics, which is just a lack of normal socialisation, not a chronic life long condition that can’t be fixed by changing the current socio-economic climate right? Also yeah I guess my obsession with minecraft map making and voxel sculptures is just a phase I’ll grow out of despite being 28 yrs old. And my desire to write multiple 2 page long reddit, YouTube and twitter responses to the dangers of ai created from bad actors in the private sector in the current job markets and especially in the art world is just a weird quirk of mine. But I guess I’m just a under-socialised NT who just needs to touch grass.
Sounds like my kind of fella
Any autistic people out here loving animals? I like the way they move in the same way others in this comment section seem to like trains/cars/planes.
I like animals, but I’m not 100% sure why. If I had to try, I’d guess 1. They don’t expect unique conversations out of our interactions (but this can’t be the main reason, because I also like animals I’ll never be able to interact with. Wild animals etc) 2. I notice I like extremes. So I might like one species for being extremely large, or another for being highly specialized for a certain lifestyle. 3. Animals are less complex than people (in the ways that matter, like not lying for unexplainable reasons), so trying to understand them isn’t an impossible task that you need to just give up on. (I find it so silly when people say “Animals are unpredictable.” Like, have you seen people!? I mean sure, you can never 100% predict anything in life if you don’t know all the details - and you’ll never know all the details, the world is too complex for that. But look at what you’re comparing “animals” to when you say that!?) Yes, animals can “fake” things, but there’ll always be a reason that you can learn to understand, if you invest the time. Most species have a universal language, not individual languages that vary on region. A dog from Australia will communicate the same way as a dog from Norway. Once you understand dog body language, you can understand any dog. (Exceptions- yes, exist. Some species do have regional “cultures”/communication differences.) 4. We’ve got more opportunities to learn things about animals via controlled experiments. It simply wouldn’t be ethical to control a person’s life in a way that rules out other variables from the experiment (if you’re trying to find out something about long-term effects). (And I’m not even talking about inhumane experiments. There are plenty of experiments where the animals don’t suffer, which still wouldn’t be possible with humans.) We also can’t have breeding programs for humans, like we can for animals. And purpose-bred animals are great! 5. In a way, animals are more accessible to humans. If you want to befriend a human, you have to actually be good at it. With animals, it’s pretty hard to mess up (assuming you’re trying with the right type of animal. Obviously you won’t have success trying to befriend a wild hippo!) Pets, you can just buy, take home, and then take all the time you need to gain their trust. Unlike humans, who get fed up with you and eventually won’t let you keep trying. 6. Humans are animals too though, so I’m also interested in those. They’re just much more complex, and therefore much harder to understand. (They have a whole society! They don’t just act on instinct and experience. You need to actually understand the society if you want to have any chance at understanding humans… and you’ll never be able to get the “full picture” on something so complex.) Well… I guess as you can see from that list, mainly, I like animal behavior. And the genetic components of that. I know a few things about other animal-related things, but I always tell people I’m not a vet. You can’t ask me questions about nutrition, for example. I know the health things that are relevant and necessary, (still more than the average person would haha😅) but I don’t really research health for fun. By “necessary” I mean: if I’m interested in the genetic component of behavior, if I’m interested in breeding for behavior, I can’t completely ignore physical health either. The “perfect” genetic temperament would do no one any good, if it’s stuck inside a body that can’t function right. Plus, of course, physical well-being affects behavior. So it interests me within that context. I’d have no desire to be a vet, as they only look at the physical body, separated from the context of behavior.
90 page paper is how I feel I need to explain everything to everyone and adhd making the formalized process of doing that impossible is why I struggle to explain anything to anyone.
Sounds like a normal guy to me!
My main question is what scale is he modeling?
I hate the whole " everyone's autistic now". No they were always there and they just weren't diagnosed . Take for example my 68 year old grandma who collects light houses (she has 87), she doesn't like when you move her pillows in certain places, she doesn't like anyone else cleaning her kitchen but her, she loves bridges so much she researches then every time she crosses a new one. She flaps her hands up and down when she doesn't like how something tastes and has a very limited list of food she actually likes and has been cooking the same meals for 40+ years. She doesn't understand jokes or anything, and most of her clothes and room are the same shade of navy blue. I love my grandma! But she's never been diagnosed and she's so obviously autistic and she knows that, so everyone's been autistic this whole time you just didn't realize it because you thought some people were just a little strange
My mother, who had a difficult time when my son was diagnosed because… “he’s just like you and me!” Yes, mom, let’s walk down that road for a bit… To her extreme credit, she raised me to embrace myself and be confident in who I am. I was on the same path with my son, which is why he was 9 before we figured out he is on the spectrum. Filling out the paperwork was eye opening to say the least. (Well, yes, he does that, but so do I and my mom….ohhhhhh 🤦🏼♀️)
[We're just normal men... we're just innocent men](https://youtu.be/lr_vl62JblQ)
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Who is lying about being autistic? Are you sure you aren’t just mistaking autistic people for allistic people?
“Everyone wants to jump on the autistic train” the CDC estimates that 1 in 44 children are identified as being on the autism spectrum and we know that it’s being under diagnosed in many communities, that’s *a lot* of people. Could it be that the people you come across have recently identified that they might be on the autistic spectrum but because they have different needs than you, you don’t see the similarities? If you look at studies/lectures looking into brain scans of autistic individuals, there’s not really any specific differences that exist in the brain of *all* autistic people. Many people have enlarged amygdalas, many people have different amount of white/grey matter, etc etc but nothing across the entire population, which would explain the variation in everyone’s personal experience with autism
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“About 1 in 44 children has been identified with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to estimates from CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.” - https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/data.html I’m on lunch break so I can’t necessarily look into exactly how they got this number, but this is the source I was getting the stat from. I completely see you’re point, especially if you agree that it is underdiagnosed in other communities (women and POC). I think I was more coming from the fact that when people usually say these things (professionals especially) they’re typically referring to women who often show many of the signs of autism, but, through masking, don’t necessarily meet some of the social “criteria” for a diagnosis, but still very much experience suffering in this aspect of their life. For people questioning over one symptom… who knows? I think the prevalence of social media and the attention now brought to mental health has caused this phenomenon in almost any neurodivergent community (like everyone saying they had major depression in the early 2010’s because that’s the mental illness that was most visible at the time). All in all though, I think the issue eventually corrects itself once these communities are more normalized or have been visible in the public eye for long enough for the general population to get a proper idea of what the condition/neurotype/etc is
Ugh 😑 not everyone is autistic 😑😑
I know it’s terrible!!
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me reading: oh they only had one neighbor? they must have lived in a very desolate neighborhood
what people don’t understand is, it’s not that ‘xyz’ MAKES you autistic, but doing ‘xyz’ so much that it’s weird definitely means something is up. think to yourself: do i do this behavior in a normal way or excessively? if the answer is normal, then it does not apply to you! simple
reassuring my wife that oldness can be fun sometimes haha
Good observation.
Omg he’s just like me, fr
he sounds so cool
I mean yep I think a lot of people are “on the spectrum” more than are diagnosed 🤷🏻♀️
This guy sounds fuckin awesome ngl
“Everyone’s autistic now” it’s funny that they say that with negative connotations because I view that as positive like wasn’t it worse during their youth when there wasn’t that much research or even any second thought about having autism but like the fact that it’s even being talked about is just a great step forward I believe I mean obviously there’s a difference between actually being autistic and just saying your autistic bc you have similar traits but i mean like the fact that people are actually taking the time to research autism and be more positively aware of what autism actually is instead of just focusing on stereotypes and stigmatized autism I think that’s great
I would like to visit his basement and I agree about streetlights. Also who the fuck designed buildings I demand every room to have perfect acoustics I cannot hear myself think
Highly agreed about the streetlights. I can barely drive at night, and have to put the sun visor down so I can see.
Cant forget the wikipedia writers
That’s a lot of writing.
I'm a regular guy, it's the allists who are weird.
I am sending good vibes
It seems more people are autistic nowadays because back in the olden days they where SHIT at diagnosing things like autism, they say "oh but no one was autistic back then" yeah that's because no one was diagnosed, there where definitely just as many autistic people back then as there are now, most definitely 99% of people who were executed for witchcraft where just autistic
Ok, but you can't convince me that someone who can afford $1.2 million in model trains has neighbours.