Read on Twitter
Autism and collecting - a thread.
This is old school, real time, I'm figuring it out as I go along thread time. It's like last October all over again. Strap in, share away and let's go...
#Autism #autistic #thread
This is old school, real time, I'm figuring it out as I go along thread time. It's like last October all over again. Strap in, share away and let's go...
#Autism #autistic #thread
Everyone knows autistic folk love to collect things. Maybe even *need* to collect things. Often these 'things' can be related to a hyperfixation, but not always. Collections are so fundamental, they often feature in diagnosis, for better or worse. /2
The classic stereotypes are very masculine - collections of model trains, road numbers, action figures, video game achievements etc. This is, of course, because autism understanding is still about 50 years out of date and still highly dependent on male tropes. /3
The fact is, autistic people will, for whatever reason, collect all sorts of things. These things don't even have to be physical - for example I love collecting information that I just keep in my head - ie knowing all the elements, US states, capital cities etc. /4
I would say that if you have other autistic characteristics and you enjoy or feel a need to collect pretty much anything, then that's probably part of your autism. Doesn't matter what it is. It *can't* matter, as it just becomes arbitrary gatekeeping. /5
There's a strange idea that if a collection is somehow socially 'acceptable' then it can't be autism. This is just daft. If you're autistic and you happen to have a collection that is seen as 'normal', it's still an autistic trait. /6
Things like collecting shoes, menus, hats, ornaments, rubber ducks, vinyl, etc *could* be examples of this trait at work, ('could' as in, if present with other traits). If probably depends on the intensity of the desire to collect. /7
Because I think that's probably where the 'autistic' type of collecting comes into play. It becomes a need, a compulsion maybe (though by no means necessarily negative), a drive that energizes and sustains. /8
I know that the things I collect have an element of 'I don't really know why I'm doing this', but I also know that collecting them makes me calmer, like I'm more in control. If that makes sense. /9
All too often being #autistic can make you feel buffeted around by the whims of fate, out of control. For me, forming collections of things drags some order and purpose into everything, making life more manageable. /10
I collect whiskies, for example, despite not being able to drink them. I enjoy their look, I like owning them, but mostly it just makes me feel like I'm achieving something, exerting some kind of will on the world around me. My whisky collection is a pocket of order in chaos. /11
I don't know what collections feel like for non-autistic people, and I'm sure there's a lot of overlap. But one thing I know is that autism cannot be denied as a condition if your interests are not numerical, mechanical or transport based. /12
