I can't speak for others but for me personally I can relate. When I go out into the world I often feel a disconnect to others around me, even when I'm putting in a conscious effort to make the connection with others. I feel like the boy in the bubble in public; I see and hear but the mental bubble keeps me from ever fully connecting. My personal theory is that this is probably caused by the autistic mind having more neural pathways than the NT population. We can and often do get overwhelmed by the barrage of information these neural pathways bring to be processed. This possibly causing our minds to process information manually, much differently than the average NT person whose brain processes information mostly in an automated fashion.
As for covid, it in itself probably doesn't cause much if any neurological damage, but that isn't to say that people weren't affected neurologically during and/or because of the covid pandemic. The pandemic response itself caused people to basically live for several months in what can be described as basically solitary confinement in a mental prison while we were forced to stay away from others. We were bombarded with messaging from world leaders and information sources which told us this was the only way, so we had no choice but to accept it as the only way or risk being verbally and emotionally attacked by others trying to force our complete and total compliance. We were forced to change our thought process about many things or risk facing very real and sometimes severe social repercussions. I know people who are nothing like they were before covid, many were mentally broken to various degrees because of the pandemic response. A friend who was so full of confidence and courage before covid now is full of uncertainty and self doubt.
Today, 4:16 pm
