50 moments in autism

 

Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The Whale Café lunch queue

I am standing in the lunch queue at the Whale Café (just the name of the café, I am not a whale). I realise I am standing slightly oddly, with my...
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A hundred moments in autism - Alone

Yes! I am all alone. I enter the office to find nobody else has arrived. I almost skip with joy. PTSD victims often describe the terror when they...
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A hundred moments in autism - A walk along the river

It is after five, so there are few people about, just me and my wife, 30 minutes each way, just us and the ducks, and the ducks aren’t doing much. On...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Jules Verne’s ducks

I don’t have a special interest, unlike many autists. Well, unless you count Jules Verne. I have read all his books available in English, indeed, the...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The ideas mine

I am always looking for story ideas, constantly on the lookout for an overheard phrase, a character, a situation, anything that triggers an idea. For...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The day I lied to a politician

Labour Party conference 2007. Our charity is part of a joint fringe event called the Health Hotel, involving representatives from over twenty health...
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A hundred moments in autism - Alan Ritson comes to visit

Alan Ritson came to visit my house twice in all the years I knew him (hi Alan, if you’re reading this) The first time I was in the front room...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The Royal Mile

As an introverted autist, shouting for people to look at me is not something deep-rooted in my DNA, very much the opposite. I am flyering my wife’s...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Mini Me

Our autistic friend C lives in Belfast, so we rarely see her and had never met her family. She has one autistic son, indeed like many autists of that...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Fashion

Fashion is one of these super neurotypical (NT) skills that are seemingly picked up by magic. Other kids at school always knew what to wear, what was...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Terrence Oblong gets mistaken for the Messiah

In my first week at university I am standing in a bar at a student night when two young men I’ve never met before walk up to me, prostrate themselves...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The Topless photo of Germaine Greer

Every few days I look at a topless photo of Germaine Greer. It is a common trait among autists to return to a favourite piece of music over and over...
Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - My own personal dress down Tuesday

An autist’s relationship with societal rules is complex. We don’t innately understand them the way a neurotypical does. Many autists learn to follow...
Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Sometimes there is just too much

I am currently distracted by: My wife, emptying her purse the way she does, all ADHD, spraying her valuables as an abstract artist sprays paint. I...
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A hundred moments in autism - I said these words to my wife

I said these words to my wife last night: “You’re easy to be with,” I said. “I might as well be alone.” By which I don’t mean that my wife is poor...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Terrence Oblong, Communism and Tudor England

Autists frequently get into trouble for saying things they’re not supposed to, breaking unwritten rules and mores we have no way of knowing the...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - First attempts at diagnosis

“What is the meaning of ‘it's no skin off my nose’?” In my late teens I suffered from depression, and was treated at a local outreach centre. I had...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Autistic Comedy Night

As a comedy fan, I spent the first 54 years of my life assuming that observational comedy was deliberately unfunny. I have watched hundreds of...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - A trip to the cinema

I lived for a year or so in London and while I was living in Tulse Hill I went to the cinema at the Elephant and Castle. The Oblong bladder being...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Parallel Play

Monday evening. Mrs Oblong and myself have just finished watching the last episode of Sherwood. It’s an hour to bedtime, but neither of us feels like...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The zinc and chrome plating problem

My summer job at the end of my first year at university was as a zinc and chrome plater in an electronics factory. It was good money for a summer job...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The zinc and chrome plating problem (2)

The previous ‘moment’ explained the speed of my thinking, but it didn’t explain the next moment in the chain, the reason why I didn’t try harder to...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Reading Nuerotribes

The chaos of 190 newbie medical students descending to collect their theatre clogs cannot be described . It’s freshers week meets large-scale...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - I am Blair-proof

Labour Party Conference Bournemouth 2003. The Labour government under Tony Blair is facing crisis over his support for George Bush’s war in Iraq. I...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - A good place to dump a Terrence

Place. Place is important to autists. There are places we feel immediately uncomfortable - noise, lights, structure, people, something nothing...
Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The job interview

Job interviews are not a great place for an autist to find themselves. Read any guide on how to do a good job interview and they will stress the...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - I am Hangry

I am hangry. Autists can be prone to anger, a symptom of exhaustion from constant masking and frustration on not understanding NT communication and...
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Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - The Whale Cafe revisited

The Whale Cafe revisited I’m back in the lunch queue at the Whale Cafe. Now you may be thinking, that as I regularly get my lunch at the Whale Cafe,...
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A hundred moments in autism - Terrence Oblong's peculiar quirk

It’s morning. I crawl unenthusiastically out of bed, go downstairs to make toast and coffee, catch sight of the sun, which makes me sneeze. I sneeze...
Cherry

A hundred moments in autism - Terrence Oblong goes to the cinema

I am alone. This is not uncommon. I am off to the cinema. I had really gotten into going to the cinema with a small group of friends during my...
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A hundred moments in autism - Bathtime for the cuddly toys

It’s bathtime for the cuddly toys. Ingredients: bucket of soapy water, a toothbrush, a sponge, an anteater (Anthony), a stoat (Stoaty), a leopard (...

A hundred moments in autism - What about the Infadels?

I am at a writers group. One of the people at the group is a DJ on local radio and is preparing a show for later in the week. “Can anyone think of a...