autism and appearing "childish"

Post Reply New Topic

It does seem that we tend to be more willing to appear child-ish and/or just refuse to conform to social norms

I have a backpack that is a giant stuffed collie dog (though a lot of people also think it's a teddy bear) and I've had people ask me things like if I work with children.... my answer is that I simply find plush animals comforting. (Especially right now in the current season of my life where I'm super stressed out and finding out I simply cannot do the same kinds of things most people can. Or at least not do that and keep up for so long.)

There is absolutely NOTHING wrong with being a little bit "childish", Autistic or not!! !

Look at cartoon character SpongeBob SquarePants

He is an adult who acts like a kid

And the character is Autistic according to his voice actor Tom Kenny

You just have to be able to balance the "adult" and "child" sides of your personality so one side doesn't overpower the other, like SpongeBob does

Eh, I think this is a stereotype enforced by NTs through infantilization. Most autistic adults are not any more “childish” than their NT counterparts, they’re just treated that way.

Case in point, Disney Adults. And yet, the Disney adult won’t be treated as a child by NTs.

Another example, lots of NTs have stuffies in their work space at their job. Or in their car in the dashboard. Overall stuffies are pretty common. And yet these people are not treated like children.

As far as social norms go, I think most autistic people try for many years but eventually get to a point in their lives where they’re just over it. They’re too old for this cow manure, it consumes way too time and energy.

Kind of similar to a change in mindset: “real adults eat their dinner and vegetables before dessert!” To “I’m an adult and I’ll eat ice cream if I want”.

Judge me for eating ice cream? Yeah okay whatever. Enjoy your veggies.

I'd rather be ageless.
Because any appearance or impression of age just... Do not fully resonate with me.

Never cared for the idea of the appearance of childishness and the appearance of 'maturity'.
If anything, I want the freedom and resilience of a child and the wisdom and experience of an adult.


As an ace, could care less about attractiveness. If appearing 'childishness' is a repellent, I'm all for it.
So go ahead, I'm more than willing to be someone who's a huge creepy red flag indicator.
Managed to expose a few creeps on my own and got themselves caught red handed and it was satisfying.

As for being treated socially like either of one or the other -- I can adapt.
I can make use of everyone's preconception of me, whether they thought I have more wisdom and esteem or lack thereof.
So if one tries to nurture me, put me under their wing or baby talk... I can speak for myself whenever I wanted to, break the stupid game I've been playing along with them and put them off kilter over the fact that I never needed any of them in the first place...

Anyone telling me I look younger than my age, or seemingly mature for someone my age -- well, I'm past from perceiving these remarks as a compliment.


Well...
Most of my problems are just related to language eloquence and processing, along with emotional lability.
In which the latter is slowly dissolving itself recently. If I already know how to make do with it, what else I can do more without it burdening me?


I just don't have the same insecurities nor neediness to affirm that I'm an "equal" to NTs related to this 'social self imagery'...

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

I have been told that I act much younger than my age. Which made me feel awful cuz this person was telling me how immature and unintentionally selfish I am and they said it's "common with autism" which just came across to me as "you have bad qualities and you're stuck with them"

My neighbor Anita told me that I am stuck in a "child-like state" and because of that I will NEVER get married, have a job, or children!! !

SpongeBob is proof that this just is NOT true!

He may not be married or have his own children but he does have a job and his own house despite being Autistic

Childish adults can do anything that so-called "mature adults" can do!

I do think a large part of it is ableism. However, I also think autistic people are more likely to resemble children--but not in a negative way.

The word "childish" is meant to be derogatory. But what people always overlook is that children's brains work differently than adults' and to think like a child isn't necessarily bad. For example, children never stop asking questions about their world. Children naturally have a level of curiosity that some adults spend their whole lives trying to achieve. Many people lose this quality when they grow up. I didn't, and that has benefited me in unique ways.

So having qualities that usually only children have isn't necessarily a bad thing. But NTs will still use it as an excuse to be an @sshole.

I think another thing is a lot of us have poor emotional regulation. Though that is often due to being more easily overwhelmed in many ways

I think that can come across as childish