Aspergers & Your Real Age

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I know Aspergers makes people mental young, why they can act young too, I can REALLY FEEL very younger than my age, I’m almost 53, my birthday is unfortunately this month. Instead of turning 53, I will be 5 forever mentally, I SO HATE Aspergers. It is good that when I calm down & I’m relaxed, I can feel like an adult, a very very young adult.

I've never heard of anyone with Asperger's / ASD Level 1 being immature for their age. Someone might be socially awkward or inept, but that doesn't make them child-like.

Immature?  Childish?  Moi?  Not at all.

Child-like, yes, in that I enjoy cartoons, table-top games, and telling stupid "Dad" jokes.

Really, idk I always feel like I am immature for my age...not in all ways, but enough that I feel like I make an ass of myself sometimes, because maybe I am not as mature as I should be. I

I'm not saying people can't or don't do or enjoy childish things (everyone has probably made an ass of themselves at some point in their lives too), but the whole mental-age argument just doesn't really work when applied to adults with Asperger's /ASD Level 1. For instance, the average 5 year old probably isn't going to be using internet forums, writing reasonably correct paragraphs, etc. They probably aren't cooking their own food, and living anywhere near independently (or even semi-independently).

I think too that everyone has days or periods of time when they aren't "adulting" very well. Myself included. But I also wouldn't consider myself a 5 year old because of it. I don't know...i'm probably not expressing this well but a lot of times the "mental age" argument is used to gas-light so many of us that we take on a learned victim mentality and I don't think that helps anyone...it just keeps them stuck.

I mean I am not suggesting autistic people have the mentality of a 5 year old per say. Like for me I feel I have normal adult intelligence but not always sure my maturity level has caught up to that, and sometimes I feel bothered about acting more immature about something maybe a normal adult would handle with more grace.

I think I can consider myself a late bloomer.

I feel like I am a teenager stuck in the body of an adult.

I hate it.

Well we do have a "developmental disability", which is measured by comparing our social and functional abilities to peers of the same age. By definition we are behind our peers in many areas of our development, like making inferences, adapting to change, dealing with sensory stimulation, etc. That doesn't make us immature (acting like babies), but it does make a lot of us feel acutely aware of our inner-non-traditional or non-adulted defaults. Yes we are adults and often quite capable of adulting but we still feel young and anxious on the inside.

I generally feel like a child, and I absolutely hate it. I get older and older and expect to "feel like an adult", but it's pretty clear to me now that that isn't really a thing.

The thing that makes me feel the most childish is my odd sitting postures and the subconscious urge to move around frequently (mentally and physically...).

Although there is plenty of evidence that I am an "old soul".

I feel the same, and it's so weird.
Like, I have an advanced degree and work in a professional role as an engineer, so it's not like I lack brainpower.
But socially and emotionally I'm just a child, partly it comes out in the way I act (when I'm not pretending to be a normal human adult), but mostly its always there in how I feel. I can't seem to make the jump to full adulthood.

When I was a kid, people thought I was like a miniature adult. As an adult, I come across as immature. It never fits.

albert Einstien"Imagination is more important than Knowledge" I am thinking more youthful minds might tend towards more imagination ?

This is why I am trying to erase my child-like tendencies and become a REAL adult!

I think of what my neighbor Anita said to me on Facebook Messenger about me and my brother being stuck in a perpetual child-like state because of our disabilities

It also adds more credence to the popular theory of cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants having Autism or other disability

This provides a possible explanation for SpongeBob being an adult who constantly acts like a kid

People with Autism or other disabilities are still developing just at a slower rate than non-disabled people which is why we are so behind on adult things like career, marriage, having a family etc compared to neuro-typicals

It is the reason why I still live at home while my NT friends all got married or became independant

I am playing catch-up with all this stuff

I guess I'm pretty childish. People think of me as a naive young man because I look a few years younger than I actually am.

But I think when I'm in my 40s people will expect me to be experienced and worldly and I still won't be.

By that time I won't be able to hide behind my youthful appearance because I won't have one.

What if I'm still childish at 70? Will my behaviour be at odds with my appearance?

I tend to look up to people who are older than me but one day I'll be the oldest person in the room and I still won't be fit to lead.

As an child I tried to be little adult. Then as an adult I found out most adults don't really act like adults either.

Adults have responsibilities that children don't, but that doesn't make them responsible or mature or intelligent.

Some people talk about not losing childlike wonder, but I'm not sure what that actually means in practice besides being a Disneyholic.

I do have what I call "my inner five year old." It's a mild compulsion to be impulsive, careless, and mischievous. Knocking things over, jumping off things, touching things I shouldn't. Nowadays I assume it's a side effect of my ADHD, even though that's predominantly inattentive rather than impulsive. Fortunately, it's something I long ago learned to ignore.

I love puns. Is that childish? Adults usually scorn them, but they're a form of worldplay. Intelligent humor. I think adults scorn them because they have to think about them to get it. Even a little thinking like that is more than they want to do voluntarily and they feel embarrassed of they don't get it. One blogger I follow once opined that most people actually like puns if you let them, but there's a social stigma against them.