Autism you witnessed IRL - share your stories

[DoomsdayElite]

I saw a guy on the bus today wearing a My Little Pony shirt. He had to be at least 40.

 

[Helvítis Túristi]

A dangerhair being a karen to a worker at a used book store. Apparently they were mad there wasn't a "diversity" section even though the guy was saying that it's split between sociology and business as subsections.

 

[cypocryphy]

I participated in said autism. When my friends and I were 17-18 my one friend had a '94 Ford Escort that could get a little bit of air if he drove fast enough over a certain spot in our neighborhood. Only thing was we had to blow through a stop sign to do it. It wasn't a busy street at all, but still pretty risky of course.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

I wasn't the one that experienced it, but some unlucky bastard did so here we are.

About fifteen years ago my brother's partner had to babysit an autistic kid that would watch nothing but Shrek. And I mean only Shrek. For six months. He absolutely hates anything having to do with Shrek to this very day.

 

[DerKryptid]

Met my first gf because we were both speds with opposing politics. Probably not the cringiest thing I've witnessed but it's the only memory that gives me physical pain. Never argue with a dangerhair chechen bitch in history class.

 

[NerdShamer]

I wasn't the one that experienced it, but some unlucky bastard did so here we are.

About fifteen years ago my brother's partner had to babysit an autistic kid that would watch nothing but Shrek. And I mean only Shrek. For six months. He absolutely hates anything having to do with Shrek to this very day.

Was it the first one or the second one?

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

People having arguments with themselves.

Spend enough time in low-income areas, and you'll see it happen. Usually it's a person of a certain age. Somebody else bumped into their shoulder, or almost hit them with their car. He/she will walk a few steps, turn back around, and yell obscenities in the direction of their interloper, who is long gone. Repeat.

I saw it happen again yesterday. I could not take my eyes off that old man: he must have been yelling his head off for ten minutes.

I was waiting for a train one time and I glanced at some relatively normal-seeming woman for half a second. She instantly turned into crazy eyes started yelling "BITCH WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT" several times, I just ignored her because at first I didn't even realize she was chimping at me, because wtf? and the train was pulling up as she started anyway. She then got on the same car as me, I only realized she was attacking me personally because she insulted my outfit and threatened to fight me. The best part is she didn't even like try to get in my face or anything, she sat halfway down the car and was just screeching across it while everybody else and I exchanged those amused/sympathetic looks that you share with strangers when shit like this goes down.

 

[Captain Syrup]

I was waiting for a train one time and I glanced at some relatively normal-seeming woman for half a second. She instantly turned into crazy eyes started yelling "BITCH WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT" several times,

That happened to me a few times. One time this mom accused me of eyeing up her 5-6 yo son. This happened just as I was leaving a dollar store.

Another time, this customer in a fur coat lost her shit and called me a "white nigger" repeatedly while gesturing at her phone. It was only later that I realized she was pointing at the iMDB page of a movie called White Nigger. I had auburn hair at the time. My manager said she was mentally ill.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I was visiting a vintage toy shop the other day and asked the proprietor to take out some Pink Panther figures I wanted to take a look at closer (my dad loves Pink Panther and I always take advantage of getting ahead of the Christmas shopping rush when I can). This one other guy in the shop, who definitely had the 'autist' look to them (seriously it's kind of scary how they all kind of look the same in profile) only heard the 'Panther' part and starts going into how much he loved Black Panther, the movie. He kept going for five minutes straight until he realized the figures I was looking at (and eventually bought) weren't the king of Wakanda.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Was it the first one or the second one?

The first, though the idea of even the second one makes him ree himself because of this experience

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

There was this kid who had some sort of developmental disorder that came into this country western bar I used to work at. Was obsessed with PBR (Professional Bull Riders) and rodeo in general and would corner people and sperg about the latest DVD he had bought, whatever events were going on, who his favorite bull riders were, etc.

Would also spend money on expensive cowboy hats and PBR branded western shirts and Wranglers. He was also Asian, rather dumpy and wore glasses with thick black frames. Imagine ProZD in a Stetson, sort of thing.

He was annoying, but generally harmless, although he went out of his way to make people feel really fucking uncomfortable at times by just babbling on and on about things.

For example, the place I worked at offered dance lessons. Learn how to line dance, learn how to two-step, etc. The unspoken agreement or understanding here is that couples would come in to learn how to dance together.

This fellow didn't get that memo, so he'd pay his money for the lessons, show up and they'd have to sort of rotate people in and out for lessons. Or, in the case of this one class where there was an instructor duo, he'd dance with the female instructor. To make things worse, his hygiene wasn't the greatest. He also, (surprise) wasn't very big on social cues and would always want to dance with any pretty ladies that came in (there was a healthy mix of younger 20somethings and older folks who were just fans of dancing and wanted to improve their skills. Guess who he gravitated towards?) People were (generally) good sports about it, although there was the odd person who wouldn't want to dance with him and would feign having to go to the bathroom or getting a drink of water or whatever when time came to dance with this guy.

Unfortunately, turning down a dance with him would cause him to have a tantrum. The dance instructors basically had to step in and tell him that he couldn't act like that or he'd be kicked out of dance classes. He behaved, although was still awkward and spergy.

That changed when the bar was open for regular business and not just for dance lessons. This guy would go around and ask women to dance with him and would freak the fuck out when he was turned down. Doesn't matter if they had a boyfriend. Doesn't matter if they had just come off the dance floor after dancing and were sweaty and wanting a break. You could give him the most well reasoned, well meaning and gentlest turn down and he'd still get angry.

His reasons were varied and were some sort of faulty rationalization he had in his head. Some of them revolved around how he didn't make enough money, but the one I always remembered was he got mad at a girl who wouldn't dance with him because he "rides the bus and doesn't drive."

I thankfully didn't interact with him all that much because I'm a dude and also didn't really work the nights he would come in (primarily whenever dance lessons were being offered), but female staff didn't fare as well as me. On slower nights, female bartenders would just have him camping out and pestering them.

Managers generally let him come in and do his thing, although they did step in and have to warn him whenever he threw tantrums. The rationale I got from our GM was basically "C'mon, he lives and breathes this shit. It would break his heart if we banned him. So long as he isn't touching patrons or staff and listens to us when we warn him, it's fine."

The only other thing I recall with this guy that stood out was one of my coworkers, who was a girl, having a chat with him and talking to him about what is/isn't appropriate. I worked at this place right when smart phones and video screens were becoming a thing and he had recently gotten one. Apparently this staff member had grown tired of him coming over and sharing videos with her and made a list with him of all the things he could not watch or share with other people. This included things like WWE, women being tied up or kidnapped and (of course) pornography.

Just a really weird guy.

EDIT: I should also mention that he wasn't one of those types who would show up every single day. He would infrequently show up (I'm guessing whenever whatever meager money he got would allow him to), so it wasn't that bad, comparatively.

Holy shit, is Kenichi Smith real?

 

[NerdShamer]

The first, though the idea of even the second one makes him ree himself because of this experience

Well, it's probably a good thing that he's traumatized to the point of hating it, considering how the rest of the films went.

I was waiting for a train one time and I glanced at some relatively normal-seeming woman for half a second. She instantly turned into crazy eyes started yelling "BITCH WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME LIKE THAT" several times, I just ignored her because at first I didn't even realize she was chimping at me, because wtf?

Yeah, it's kind of normal for the hobos to be pulling shit like this. Saw a crazy bitch slinging insults at whoever she saw walking across the street, earlier this year. Nothing happened, of course. Unlike that guy walking across the business loop with either a bat or a sledgehammer in his hand and was completely unaware that this cop was shadowing him. Some guy actually yelled,"You better run, man!" right before he was tackled.

 

[Monika H.]

I saw a guy on the bus today wearing a My Little Pony shirt. He had to be at least 40.

Reminds me of that guy I saw open carrying a MLP plushie once

Speaking of MLP, I had an encounter with a somewhat "civilized" brony late this January, in a hotel I was staying at for a three days work conference in the capital.
Guy in his late teens, oddly clean and with fashionable clothes (dress shirt and male cardigans) who openly carried a Twilight Sparkle plushie in the lounge and the restaurant.
The weirdest thing was that he was accompanied by a woman, who was quite pretty and fashionable too.
At first I assumed she was his girlfriend, but she looked in her mid-20s and there was a certain resemblance so I figured out she was his sister.

Now, dude was clearly autistic, he was clean and pretty but he was very rigid in his movements and talked in monosyllabes while the sister talked to him.
He never tarded out save for his plushie open carrying and stilted movements, but the woman would sweet talk him, cut him his steak and food, and would fucking glare at everyone who dared looking at her beloved aspie for more than two seconds.
She was as cold and icy with waiters and staff as she was warm and thoughtful to him.

Just weird because when I met her in the smoking room without her aspie she was pretty cool and we even chit chatted about the city and the hotel.

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Well, it's probably a good thing that he's traumatized to the point of hating it, considering how the rest of the films went.

I think he would’ve truly snapped if he was forced to watch Shrek the Third for six months straight.

There’s currently a juice box shortage in my area between back to school and supply issues. I currently work in a grocery store and this very exhausted mom in my lane asked me when more juice boxes would be available. She explained that her oldest is autistic and would only drink juice boxes. She had gone to every grocery store in the area and could not find the exact ones he’ll drink. Got to checking and while some Capri Sun was coming soon, most of the flavors weren’t coming back until December. The mom dropped a very loud, exasperated f bomb as the autistic beside her made noises and played with his fingers. Start drinking water, kid.

 

[Monika H.]

I think he would’ve truly snapped if he was forced to watch Shrek the Third for six months straight.

There’s currently a juice box shortage in my area between back to school and supply issues. I currently work in a grocery store and this very exhausted mom in my lane asked me when more juice boxes would be available. She explained that her oldest is autistic and would only drink juice boxes. She had gone to every grocery store in the area and could not find the exact ones he’ll drink. Got to checking and while some Capri Sun was coming soon, most of the flavors weren’t coming back until December. The mom dropped a very loud, exasperated f bomb as the autistic beside her made noises and played with his fingers. Start drinking water, kid.

Autism is one hell of a demon.
My daughter too eats the same exact things and spits out everything else, but she's not even one year old, ffs. A kid up to 10 years can be like that, but you educate him/her to drink/eat other stuff too. Imagine having a kid between the ages of 12-18 or even in their twenties being like that, a fucking nightmare.

Even then, autism is not an excuse to enable and not educate your kid. My SIL is clearly autistic on some level but she was properly educated by her parents and is both a functional member of society and a proper person. It doesn't take much.

 

[𝕺𝖑' 𝕯𝖎𝖗𝖙𝖞 𝕱𝖆𝖙𝖘𝖔]

I think he would’ve truly snapped if he was forced to watch Shrek the Third for six months straight.

There’s currently a juice box shortage in my area between back to school and supply issues. I currently work in a grocery store and this very exhausted mom in my lane asked me when more juice boxes would be available. She explained that her oldest is autistic and would only drink juice boxes. She had gone to every grocery store in the area and could not find the exact ones he’ll drink. Got to checking and while some Capri Sun was coming soon, most of the flavors weren’t coming back until December. The mom dropped a very loud, exasperated f bomb as the autistic beside her made noises and played with his fingers. Start drinking water, kid.

I feel like this is this kid's chris chan mall bear moment

 

[toilet_rainbow]

Autism is one hell of a demon.
My daughter too eats the same exact things and spits out everything else, but she's not even one year old, ffs. A kid up to 10 years can be like that, but you educate him/her to drink/eat other stuff too. Imagine having a kid between the ages of 12-18 or even in their twenties being like that, a fucking nightmare.

Even then, autism is not an excuse to enable and not educate your kid. My SIL is clearly autistic on some level but she was properly educated by her parents and is both a functional member of society and a proper person. It doesn't take much.

The kid was still a little boy, so there's some ever so minor hope in him acquiring more of a food range. I mean, I'm being very optimistic saying that, but it also sounded like the kid would have to be put on an IV drip if he didn't drink his sugar water in a pouch. I legit don't know if this kid would eventually force himself to drink something else just out of survival instinct. The mom was very clear that he wouldn't even drink like Juicy Juice because it was in a bottle. She was a very young mom and also had a baby in her cart so I pitied her.

Like you said, kids are hella picky. I have a lot of issues myself where the taste is fine, but the texture is utterly repulsive to me. I've gotten better with age, though. When I was a kid I could not have lettuce in my tacos because the sensation of crunchy lettuce mixed with soft beef would make me spit the whole bite out. Now lettuce is fine in my tacos.

 

[Monika H.]

The kid was still a little boy, so there's some ever so minor hope in him acquiring more of a food range. I mean, I'm being very optimistic saying that, but it also sounded like the kid would have to be put on an IV drip if he didn't drink his sugar water in a pouch. I legit don't know if this kid would eventually force himself to drink something else just out of survival instinct. The mom was very clear that he wouldn't even drink like Juicy Juice because it was in a bottle. She was a very young mom and also had a baby in her cart so I pitied her.

Like you said, kids are hella picky. I have a lot of issues myself where the taste is fine, but the texture is utterly repulsive to me. I've gotten better with age, though. When I was a kid I could not have lettuce in my tacos because the sensation of crunchy lettuce mixed with soft beef would make me spit the whole bite out. Now lettuce is fine in my tacos.

Let's hope so. If he's still little, maybe the mother will wisen up a bit in the years and learn to say ''no'' to the kid and educate him a little. Nowadays seems that saying ''no'' to your kid or punishing them - non phisically, mind you - is basically abuse, when instead some discipline can help form the character. I don't say to use physical punishments, but take away the Playstation for one or two days, turn off their Internet, stuff like that.

I can get kids being picky, I was picky too, but eventually I got over it.
I completely get being fine with the taste but hating the texture and/or sensation, I was like that with carrots and tomatoes. My stepmom would ground them for me so I would eat my veggies in the soup. Hell, she still does even now though I'm a big ass adult when I eat at her place, and I'm fine with sliced carrots and tomatoes.
But she insisted I eat some, or I would be skipping desserts.

Funny thing, she would also set the TV to turn off after an hour as to not make me play vidya all day on schooldays. Did anyone else's parents here do that?

 

[NerdShamer]

I legit don't know if this kid would eventually force himself to drink something else just out of survival instinct

The short answer is that some won't.

 

[Cool Username]

Like you said, kids are hella picky. I have a lot of issues myself where the taste is fine, but the texture is utterly repulsive to me. I've gotten better with age, though.

Heh, as a kid I was quite the opposite. I would eat a brick if my mom put it on my plate. I became pickier with food as I got older.