King Charles claustrophobic?

[StephieSlade84]

Randomly came across this snippet when looking for something else:
Britain's Prince Charles is scared of lifts.
The 65-year-old royal has confessed he suffers from a phobia of elevators and always tries to take the stairs whenever possible since he doesn't like being confined in small spaces.
When he met teacher Shehnaz O'Mallie at her block of flats in Islington, north London, yesterday (14.02.13) he asked he whether the lifts in the building worked.
She said: "We always take the stairs", to which he bashfully replied: "So do I. I'm always terrified of lifts".
I'm probably slightly autistic, and have dyspraxia, so decided to investigate further, and found a couple of videos of the king looking a bit nervous in a tunnel, and on a tube train.
Also found this extract from his recent engagement at the Macmillan cancer centre:
The hospital's chief executive David Probert said the King was showing plenty of "energy" going round the hospital. He was using the stairs rather than the lift.

Probably a lot to do with security concerns.

Is a fear of being in a lift as ‘simple’ as claustrophobia? Isn’t it more a fear for one’s personal safety, fear of an uncontrollable death plummet, that kind of thing, as well as disliking being trapped?

Or not using a lift could be an optics thing - showing he’s fit on the stairs, and not wanting to reveal his personal security people piling into the lift with him like a scene from the Blues Brothers?

Who knows?

Lots of people wont use lifts, its not particularly uncommon

What do you mean that you're slightly autistic and that you are dyspraxic, whats that got to do with anything?

I'm not in the least claustrophobic and don't like lifts.
You say he doesn't like confined spaces, but your quote didn't say anything about that. Just that he doesn't like lifts.

I think OP was referring to their neurodivergence and how that led them to go down a bit if a research rabbit hole

how that led them to go down a bit if a research rabbit hole

Well, that would certainly make me claustrophobic.

😁

I get dizzy in lifts. I avoid them wherever possible. High speed ones are the worst.

I’m claustrophobic and don’t take lifts.

I’m sure it doesn’t affect his life that much.

The clinic he was visiting is only a couple of short flights of stairs high anyway. Even I don't use the lifts there and I'm bone idle.

😆 Bravo 👏

"Slightly autistic" isn't really a thing, OP. You're either autistic or you're not.

No, there is indeed a spectrum.

I don't think the word spectrum in ASD means what you think it does.

Does it matter if he doesn't like lifts? I don't like escalators. I use them but I particularly hate getting on and getting off.

Looking slightly nervous in a tunnel lol

In the last 5 years I’ve become scared of going down stairs ….elevators yep don’t like them or escalators etc

'Slightly autistic' does not exist.

I don't think it can be claustrophobia.

During his stint in the Navy he served on the submarine HME Churchill, and you don't get much more scarily enclosed than being in a tin can deep under the sea.

https://www.medicinenet.com/can_you_be_a_little_autistic/article.htm#:~:text=However%2C%20a%20person%20can%20be,day%2Dto%2Dday%20activities.

Plenty of references online to mild symptoms of autism.

I think we all know exactly what the OP meant. Shall we not pick it apart?

Not sure if this has anything to do with Charles but I think it’s possible to develop claustrophobia after an experience like that or at any age.

"no, there is no such thing as being a little autistic" - says the article you've posted.

It also uses a whole load of outdated terms which many autistic people find offensive ("high functioning" etc) so excuse me for not taking it very seriously.

Ok, be offended by someone who is ND trying to explain themselves to you. Let’s focus on that.

You're the one getting offended by ND people explaining that saying "slightly autistic" or "high functioning" isn't ok.

I present as what you might describe as "slightly autistic"/neurotypical but a bit quirky. I can assure you my autism is not "mild"/"slight" in any way.

I'm not particularly offended (although some people would be). But if OP is autistic then she's autistic and it does her a disservice to play that down by saying it's "slight".

No, I’m simply supporting the OP who was the only one here who had mentioned symptoms of neurodiversity at that point.

Who are you supporting?