A hundred moments in autism - A trip to the cinema
By Terrence Oblong
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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 what it is I went to the loo after the film. Upon leaving the loo I was greeted by a long line of 200 cinemagoers waiting to get out of one open door. To their right, seven other doors, to which nobody was heading, hence the queue.
I was having none of it, and determined that I would try all seven other doors and if they were all locked I would get the cinema staff to open them, it was a ridiculous fire risk. Only it wasn't. I tried a door, it opened, I went out.
I assumed, having demonstrated that the other doors weren’t locked, that the crowd would disperse through the eight doors, but no, a second queue formed behind the door I had just opened, not one person tried any of the other doors. The queuers all assumed I had some special knowledge that the door I opened was unlocked, but retained their faith in the group think that had persuaded them that the other doors were locked.
This is the autist's superpower. We're not subsumed by group think. Because every single person in that long, snaking queue was making the assumption that the other doors had been tried and found to be locked. They were fearful of standing out by trying an 'obviously' locked door.
Thus large groups of neurotypicals can do very stupid things and only an autist has the ability to see through it (the kid who called out the emperor's new clothes was clearly on the spectrum).
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'This is the autist's
'This is the autist's superpower. We're not subsumed by group think.'
Right! I know this makes me part of a miniscule minority, even among autistic peers, but I don't even have a smart phone! When I'm asked, as I sometimes am, why... I simply say 'Because I don't need one.'
I used to love the cinema. But I no longer go. I simply cannot tolerate the chomping of popcorn, rustling of bags, whisperers (always loud to me)... and the occasional invasion of my sight-line by a light as yet another person checks their phone.
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ah, superpowers. I'd love one
ah, superpowers. I'd love one, but the price is too high.
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Reminds me though, Terrence,
Reminds me though, Terrence, of a story told to me by a teacher who'd worked with autistic children at a special school in Bulgaria. Every morning, some of the kids would come in and set off the fire alarms - and the teachers couldn't understand why. She figured it, though. The alarms all had signs saying 'Press button to sound fire alarm'... and some of the kids took it literally!
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I can tell my sons...
"It is raining", but they would always look. Superpower or evidence based lived expereience?
Best
L x
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