Prepare to enter the wild and wooly world of an adult with Aspergers Syndrome, a form of autism characterized by intellignce, quirks, social difficulties and downright strange and oddish behaviours.

People with Aspergers generally are high functioning in everyday life but have great difficulty connecting with others due to the inability to read faces, body language and subtle verbal clues. They also tend to take words literally and have a hard time multi-tasking.

Oversensitivity to touch (clothing has to be soft and often the tags removed), light (do not leave home without the sunglasses), sound (loud noises and noisey places are avoided), taste (many Aspies have quite a limited diet and are frequently very picky eaters) and smells makes the everyday existence more of a challenge.

Fasten your seatbelts and come on in...
To find out more about what Aspergers is..please check out my earliest blog entries

Sunday, January 1, 2017

Sign Flyers...Aspie Hell...Unpredictable Variables

One of the new things I've encountered here in Oregon, is the large volume of "sign flyers." In Michigan we called them homeless or, worse yet, beggars. They are men, women, young and old that sit or stand at popular entrances to stores and shops.
Almost everyone carries a sign: "Anything will help", "Spare change", "Dying of cancer", "Hungry Need Food", or something similar. The same individuals occupy the same spots, for the most part.
The Post Office has two entrances. It's the most popular sign flying space in town as both entrances are usually covered.
I'm far from prejudice or judgemental but I'm having anxiety navigating through the sign flyers. Each and every individual is an unknown variable in my autistic world, thus they scare me and I try and avoid. I never know if someone will speak to me, ask a question, offer small talk or let me pass wordlessly on my way.
I've changed plans a number of times, to avoid possible conversations, altercations, or discomfort. There is no way to fix my anxiety except by avoidance.
I'm a really good recluse and I have damn good reasons.
Strangers make me nervous, especially strangers at doorways. Unpredictable variables, sigh.