50 moments in autism – 50 moments in autism

I’m still writing this series of moments in autism. 

I watched an autism blog describing how autists' facial expressions don't match their feelings and it reminded me of when my mother died and people kept coming up to me saying 'you look in a good mood'.

You may have forgotten all about my moments in autism.  It’s been two years since I started them, and many months since I wrote a new one.  However, the series is always there, at the back of my mind. I am constantly alert, looking for something I do differently, looking for another moment in autism to share with you. 

And it isn’t just my moments in autism. I have, at last count, eighteen regular characters and settings that I may return to from time to time. This year I’ve posted new ‘stories’ in my Ulf and Sven series and my Baron Von Ernest series, in both cases years after the initial inspiration.  

Autists have a tendency to add to sequences long after the initial activity. In conversations, I often find myself wanting to contribute to a topic long after the conversation has moved on.  I have an annoying (to me at least) habit of coming up with an idea for a story inspired by an abctales inspiration point weeks or sometimes months after the inspiration was active.  

 It may be something to do with the way autistic memory functions, or how we process the passing of time, or an off-shoot from obsessive, compulsive behaviours.  

But I like to think of it visually, somewhere at the back of my mind, Ulf and Sven, the Baron Von Ernest and goodness knows how many other characters, are hanging around, waiting for a new opportunity. Because when I need them, they’re always there.