My youngest one is a liner-upper. It never occurred to me that it was unusual for him to play this way. In fact, I think his arrangements are beautiful and have their own aesthetic, so I photographed them. It’s such a common autistic play experience, but is sadly so pathologised https://twitter.com/commaficionado/status/1328313401680998400

As you can see: he just loves lining things up! Now he’s older, he still gets huge amount of joy from creating displays, arrangements, and from sorting and categorising objects. So do I - I even worked in documentation in a museum, for a while

I honestly don’t see this way of playing as problematic and really can’t understand why it’s often termed “non-functional”. It’s so clearly IS functional. Aesthetically, visually, in terms of sorting, categorising, or purely because repetitively lining objects up is soothing

And here is how this play form is pathologised: https://twitter.com/mxoolong/status/1328256907396657152

What I really loved about digging through Instagram and finding these photos was how they were mingled with other photos I’ve taken of ordered and categorised museum displays. It’s so clearly an aesthetic that is enjoyed, and applied by many for various reasons

Here you’ve got Alfred Wallace’s butterfly collection, and a geological display, both at the Natural History Museum in London; a geology display at the Horniman Museum, and another from the London Mithraeum