Agreed. If we grew up not being social pariahs, or maybe had some idea what emotions were, maybe we would've been different. I'm not saying we wouldn't be on the spectrum, but we probably would've had more friends to lean on and learn from - which at lease would've likely helped me make different choices and not alienate so many people.
It always astonishes me how many of my peers are nowhere near as independent as I am, until I realise that I've had to be.
Just this week I have been fixing electrics, plumbing, basic building work etc. and think nothing of it. A friend of mine the same age as me can't even change a plug.
100%. Same for me. I just fixed my infrared grill the other day after all the electrical stuff like the igniter(s) and the lighted buttons stopped working. I bought one part I couldn't fix, but I wired the rest with CAT-6A strands instead of paying way too much for the wires online. I just made sure to use the heat shrink stuff to secure the wires.
I also remember visiting my aunt and grandmother(s) that lived about 150 miles from me all through my childhood for weeks at a time. My mother would meet my Aunt halfway and drop me off. They told me this started when I was about 1yo. There were times I'd spend the whole summer there and go fishing, exploring through the woods in the small mountains in Western MD, and basically have fun all summer.
Fast-forward to adulthood, and I remember having a couple of nieces at our house to visit for a week when they were 9 or 10yo. My sister-in-law had to come get them the 2nd day because they were too homesick. They had never been away from their mom for more than a day or so. I couldn't understand it - I never had that. They've visited as adults and stayed for a week, but as kids I guess it was just too scary to be away.
I left home at 17 and started working and decided to go to Uni as a mature student at the ripe old age of 21.
That first night there all I could hear were 18 year old 'children' crying and missing their mummies - it was almost frightening - and that was in 1992!
Agreed. If we grew up not being social pariahs, or maybe had some idea what emotions were, maybe we would've been different. I'm not saying we wouldn't be on the spectrum, but we probably would've had more friends to lean on and learn from - which at lease would've likely helped me make different choices and not alienate so many people.
It always astonishes me how many of my peers are nowhere near as independent as I am, until I realise that I've had to be.
Just this week I have been fixing electrics, plumbing, basic building work etc. and think nothing of it. A friend of mine the same age as me can't even change a plug.
100%. Same for me. I just fixed my infrared grill the other day after all the electrical stuff like the igniter(s) and the lighted buttons stopped working. I bought one part I couldn't fix, but I wired the rest with CAT-6A strands instead of paying way too much for the wires online. I just made sure to use the heat shrink stuff to secure the wires.
I also remember visiting my aunt and grandmother(s) that lived about 150 miles from me all through my childhood for weeks at a time. My mother would meet my Aunt halfway and drop me off. They told me this started when I was about 1yo. There were times I'd spend the whole summer there and go fishing, exploring through the woods in the small mountains in Western MD, and basically have fun all summer.
Fast-forward to adulthood, and I remember having a couple of nieces at our house to visit for a week when they were 9 or 10yo. My sister-in-law had to come get them the 2nd day because they were too homesick. They had never been away from their mom for more than a day or so. I couldn't understand it - I never had that. They've visited as adults and stayed for a week, but as kids I guess it was just too scary to be away.
You've just reminded me of my brief stay at Uni.
I left home at 17 and started working and decided to go to Uni as a mature student at the ripe old age of 21.
That first night there all I could hear were 18 year old 'children' crying and missing their mummies - it was almost frightening - and that was in 1992!
LOL. We didn't have the money for that so I joined the USAF and went in at 17yo. Lots of homesick 18-20s there too.