autistic and dreading the end of lockdown

[Covidiot]

I like not having to interact with humans face to face every day
I like being in my house with my family
I like not having to touch anyone (handshakes, cuddles, kisses etc)
I love the tranquility of my own personal space

I recognise I am lucky that I can do my job from home easily
I recognise I am lucky to have a garden
I recognise I am lucky that I have a supportive partner
I recognise that I am not in financial difficulties.

I would like to see my mum dad and brother
I would like to see my two friends

But I love I love social distancing and lockdown and I am terrified of going back to normal.

I am sorry if this offends anyone.

Me too. And I am not autistic.

I am autistic and I can’t wait to leave my house 🙈

It’s such a personal thing and I can see why you’d be happy and content with this way of living. I enjoyed taking it easy and recharging for the first couple of weeks, and I’m still a real introvert but I’m climbing the walls being stuck inside with limited exercise time.

I agree with lockdown and understand its importance but I’ll be bloody glad when life goes back to some semblance of normal.

I'm not autistic but I love lockdown for the same reasons.
I don't yearn to see anyone, not even family.

If you can WFH you'll be at it a while yet, and you can safely carry on declining to get physically close to people pretty much permanently now. The only thing that you might actually need to change is occasionally going to your physical place of work, and if you can WFH completely that's probably months off.

DC is autistic and has thrived during lockdown, especially not going to school. The lack of cars, other traffic, police sirens, banging car doors because people aren’t commuting have been lovely. The reduced social demands and lack of the necessity to mask all day at school have made them much happier. The downside is the weekly clap, saucepan - banging and fireworks - causing huge upset.

I really don't think you care if you offend anyone with this post. Otherwise you wouldn't have posted it.

I don't have autism but I do relate to what you say because of anxiety. In some way I'm happy at home, and I'm nervous about going back into the real world once this this over even though I miss my family and work colleagues.

I have two autistic children and some traits myself but no diagnosis. I feel the same as you.

Thank you for understanding. I was so worried I was going to get an MN kicking for saying what I did.

But I do understand the need to get back to normal routine for others. I’ve established my new routine and I like it. I also like the fact that supermarkets (the only shop I have been to) are much much quieter. Physical distance with other people is so much better for me. I realise I get so so stressed with crowds, even not serious crowds. And quiet roads. Bliss.

I also don’t understand the clapping thing and will be glad when that stops. I owe my life (literally) to the NHS and I don’t understand why clapping is supposed to help them but I also know that some will judge me for not clapping. I absolutely hate not understanding these societal norms.

@pandarific How the hell is 'person with autism prefers lockdown' offensive? Any fool can understand why OP might prefer it.

@pandarific I do worry that I have offended someone as I don’t understand why. But I do know that fro precious experience, expressing my opinions does rub people up the wrong way. And contrary to what you may think about autistic people in general, I personally hate knowing I have upset someone unintentionally.

Me too

Me too! Actually every time I hear of a lockdown ending rumour I feel quite sick!

God I totally understand. And I think I’m autistic (going to pluck up the courage to see the GP someday - although I’ll wait for my children to have their ASD assessments first).

I spend the vast majority of my time at home anyway (SAHM). I feel safe with us all at home, although I miss my parents. I’m terrified of the restrictions lifting and finding the country in a even worse situation than a month ago.

I understand OP and am not autistic (not that I think it matters) I hate the clapping and expectation to be appreciative in a socially (media) prescribed way. Not offended in the least - bring this new social order on!

Fine, I'm being unreasonable - I felt your post was a bit disingenuous, but it's been a long and trying day and I'm personally suffering. I retract my snipe.

I'm awaiting assessment. I am, mainly absolutely fine with lockdown. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to do my job from home.

Completely understandable, OP. And how nice to think that, amidst all the awful things happening, some people who face challenges every day are actually feeling like they are being given a bit of a “break” from some of these things.

Here’s my totally selfish lockdown confession: I much prefer the supermarkets the way they are now. Less crowded, quieter, people aren’t allowed to drag their entire family around with them. Lovely. Not looking forward to that being ended. There, that’s my self-centred enjoyment of lockdown.

I’m not autistic but I am an introvert and I’m also dreading the end of lockdown.

The peace and quiet has been lovely combined with the sunny warm weather. Time to reflect and bake, read and exercise, phone friends and relax. Bliss.

I do however miss GOING OUT WITH A PURPOSE AND SEEING THE WORLD. Cant wsit to travel again and go on daytrips to the beach, the forrest, river walks, city of Bath, Delamere forrest, hug friends and family - I havent touched another human for more than two months - and just enjoy life again.

I’ll miss the silence though. It’s been lovely with no car doors slamming, sirens blaring, horns blasting, shouting, music blaring, cats revving, queues of traffic, thundering lorries, pneumatic drills, aircraft engines roaring overhead. Sigh. I’m just hoping that many more people will now be able to work from home to cut down on all the traffic noise.

I’m still working so this is even more hypocritical but I LOVE the fact that my train to work is empty. I HATE crowds and noise and LOVE the fact that it’s quieter out. The thought of normality fills me with dread in a way.
I hate touching people or being touched (only DD and the cat are exempt from this even poor DH gets the crumbs sorry DH), hate noise, hate over stimulation and my DD (5) isn’t missing school one bit and is thriving and also very brown.

That should be cars revving not cats revving. Cats dont rev. Yet!

Pmsl at cats revving. I reckon mine would

Our society is so BUSY and loud. I’m sure that so many people have anxiety because we are not meant to live so close to one another. How you can travel on the tube and have someone in your personal space and not want to hit them is beyond me. I get very flappy about personal space

I’m autistic and I worked full time from home anyway! I’m missing sending my kid off to school.. there’s too much “child” in my house ALL the time! I’d like my routine back but I mostly observed social distancing before it became fashionable!

And yes us odd ones really don’t like offending the rest of the world we just never know if what we’ve said is going to be offensive or not. As fast as I learn one rule for not upsetting people there seems to be another one invented!

Me too, OP. I could very happily live like this forever.