"Free to Choose"

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http://www.autismafter16.com/article/04 ... ree-choose

For everyone who was ever pressured to give up so-called "childish things."

I am glad my parents didn't make me give stuff up as I got older but they did try and make me do age appropriate things to an extent like no taking stuffed animals in public, no pushing a doll around in the stroller but that was more about to protect me from bullying and when mom told me my brothers were getting teased about me because I was pushing a doll around in the stroller at age ten, I stopped because I cared about them and I didn't want to be selfish. I wanted to be nice and a good person and a bad person wouldn't care and would keep on doing it. I wanted to be a good person and have respect and be liked.

My ex boyfriend had a problem with me playing video games in public but he also had a problem with me reading at the table or doing a word search but yet he found it okay when I told him I see people reading on the bus and whenever I did that, he was so embarrassed about me doing it. His excuse was those people know they will be on the bus for a while so they read to have something to do. Uh I was reading to have something to do until my food comes or when the waiter or waitress comes to take our order.

Face it, there are also NTs out there that like immature things but they hide it. It's considered a guilty pleasure. I mean look around, you sometimes see Sesame Street characters on teens or adult clothes and I bought a couple socks of them because I have my son and I know he will like them. So it's pretty obvious adults like that show too and the characters. Of course people could be wearing them for the kids like their students or if they have children. Nothing wrong with liking kid stuff.

It doesn't make sense for anybody to have a problem with someone reading a book--anywhere.

I don't get people sometimes!

I still have my 30 year old teddy but he is all old and worn out

You should never be forced to give up stuff or sell toys or whatever. Its nobodies place to tell you that stuff is wrong or only for kids. There is actually adult people who still sleep with their teddy bears. I would probably still sleep with mine, if i wasnt afraid to break him.

this is one area where people with autism are truly enlightened and have the upper strength, we all have varying levels of lacking social rules and boundaries,why shoud we stop doing something or having something jjust because society says its only for x years old?
unless its illegal,and sick like paedophilia [which is taking advantage of a youngster;under thirteen,its got another name for thirteen plus] why shoud humans be bound by rules? even more so,people who are naturaly blind to them?

am thankfuly the last person on WP who woud ever get called up on something being age inapropriate because of having ID but people need to understand the wiring of autism is very different,we have different sensory and comfort needs for one and these are often met by so called childrens toys,interests or tv shows.

That is heartwarming to see how Mickey's parents support him. I have such toys too and I am glad that the people in my life respect my love for them.

I read that same article not long ago, and I LOVED it. It makes me so happy to see Mickey's parents understanding the need for his plushies and his special interests in Sesame Street and The Muppets. My mom and stepdad used to give me a hard time about liking "age-inappropriate" things, so it's so nice to see that some parents are more enlightened now then when I was younger.

Also, the comments section of the article has some great stories, too - one of which is about a young man with autism who makes video mashups of DragonTales and Avenue Q for Youtube. I used to love DragonTales; I'll have to do a search for those videos of his sometime.

I apparently don't have a solid grasp on what "age appropriate" looks like: my special interest throughout all of middle and high school was Snoopy, and I made no effort to hide it, because I didn't think there was anything strange about it, and wasn't aware that there might be until reading the article. My current interests are more nerdy and "gender inappropriate" (X-Men comics and dinosaurs) but that's different from being age inappropriate.

I liked the beginning of the article where the author described how Mickey just started talking to the stuffed animals in the store; that sounds exactly like what I do, wording and all. I obviously check first to make sure there's no one around to hear me and think I'm mentally deranged, but I absolutely talk to stuffed animals, my own especially.

I also have a hooded cape that I made, and I'll sometimes run around the house as the crime-fighting super hero, "Aspie Avenger" with my imaginary friend Bob as my sidekick "NT". I don't do it in front of my family, but they will often see me running up and down the stairs in my cape after my imaginary villain (and people say autistics have no sense of imagination!)

To this day, I still regret trying to give up "childish things" at the age of 12. I sold most of my toys and quit watching cartoons on a regular basis, and it really screwed me up. I guess it goes to show that not all aspies are immune to peer pressure.

For this reason, to this day I often have trouble enjoying things that could be remotely considered "kiddy", and it's not for a lack of trying either.

My parents never tried to give away my "childish stuff" unless I wanted to.
I am almost 17.
Some days ago I was watching my little pony on TV and I asked my mother something like "mom, you think I should by ashamed of myself?" and she said "no, you're not doing anything bad".
My parents are both around 60 and watch cartoons with me. My father (not NT) likes cartoons just like my mother (NT). My brother with LFA who's around 30 watches cartoons as well with us. We all watch cartoons!
Anyway, I don't think that clinging to childish stuff is something just autistics or immature NTs do.
Andrew turns 18 today and he still plays pokémon games (I do as well) and likes pokémon action figures and pokémon cosplays. He is not autistic, he's mildly dyslexic and has dysthymia.
Christine is a depressed NT who still plays pokémon and buys plushies.
They are both quite mature teens. Maturer than me, anyway
Even my mother used to keep a doll in her bag until she was 25.
My father never had toys therefore he's not attracted to toys. He was very autistic as a child, so I don't think he would even play with toys. He was too occupied looking for information about cars and mechanics
I don't know what's like where you guys live, but here playing video games, sleeping with stuffed toys, watching cartoons and having stuffed figures is not considered weird at all even as adults.