Adults

Duh?? But I thought... Tonight on Big Bang theory Leonard carried a box out of his apartment filled with treasures he loved: Action figures, "Star Wars" gadgets and other things that he felt his now ex girlfriend Penny would want him to be rid of. Sheldon, of all people was one to bring perspective. After blocking the stairway, and saying "Leonard, you can't do this," and then threatening to open a mint condition, Wesley, without his visor from Star Trek action figure, he questions Penny about her own childlike things.

"If I go into your apartment, won't I find Care Bears and My Little Pony's and a certain Japanese feline all over the place?" (slightly paraphrased). He looks at her sleep shorts and says "Hello, 'Hello Kitty'!

We're all children at heart, I think. But those who have Autism or AS have a marvelous ability to show it from the inside out. We may very well prefer a Star Wars Marathon to a wine tasting, for example. The paradox is that this child likeness is not always sweet and positive (Just as children are not always sweet and positive). So when the negative side of such a colorful, eccentric view of life shows itself, in the form of Meltdowns and temper tantrums, it is then that the Autistic person is expected to grow up and act their age. This where it gets difficult. The line between child and adult is constantly "blurred," often, even to an Autistic person themselves.

The Autistic heart longs for others to be just as emotionally stimulated by what they say and think and feel as they are. This is the Autistic's way of genuinely "sharing" things with others. The difficulty is that often, the others involved feel left out because the Autistic's mentality seems to be that it is only all about them. On the same episode of BBT, Sheldon's sister came to visit, and Leonard said "Sheldon, you're ignoring your sister."

"I'm not ignoring my sister, said Shely, as he peaked from behind his computer; I'm ignoring all of you.". The thought process being that if everyone else in the room were interested in Sheldon's world, there would not be any problem. (Now, Sheldon WAS ignoring his sister and then being sarcastic about it; but I think the example still holds.). I think the truth is that Autistics feel things more intensely than those who are not Autistic, a strange irony, being that Autistics are said to have a lack of empathy. In my opinion, we feel things so deeply and can become so impassioned about things, that we often can only focus on one thing at a time. This is why we withdraw and keep to ourselves so much. Transitions are not easy because we must be "pulled out" of (whatever world we're in) and the intensity of whatever we were doing won't go away. We want to return to our obsession, where we know we'll be safe and happy than to have to do something we can't predict, that may end in hurt or rejection. All of this, often makes us upset and irritable, and we can appear unempathetic and uncaring.

I think Autistics love childlike things, and things from years past, because they "stimulate" us to be safe and happy, and protected. The same holds true for movies and plays and books. All of these make believe worlds help us to know that we have control... because any danger or negativity involved is confined to the plot of the story, the game, the computer, the TV, whatever. But all of this, can make it appear as though we are immature and unable to grow up. Maybe this is why Penny wanted Leonard to get rid of all his "toys.". But make no mistake about it, trying to teach an Autistic to let go of the very things that allow them to feel safe, will never produce good results. Now, because Autistics are so prone to various obsessions, there does need to be limits. Autistic adults do realize this, and often their biggest goal is to create a balance between their fantasy and the real world. All of this, can make normal, adult things seem insurmountable to us. Keeping an eight hour a day job, and all of it's transitions can be impossible. We are, however adults, who often must "adjust" our lives to our temperament and energy level. The irony here, is that we often need to make more transitions (Say, between work and rest) then most do. Everything is a paradox.