Sunday, February 20, 2011

Bad Autistic Day

I had quite a bad autistic day yesterday. Not one of the worst, but still one that was quite difficult to deal with. First, I went to Office Depot and kept running around the store like a headless chicken, trying to figure out what I needed to buy. The worst part was that whenever I'd manage to calm down and concentrate on finding what I needed, some well-meaning store assistant would approach me and ask if I needed help. That, of course, would break my concentration, and another round of running around pointlessly would ensue. 

Then I got lost in a parking lot that I have visited over a hundred times before. So I had to call my husband like some annoying patriarchal woman and get him to rescue me.

After that I came home and erased an important file for some unfathomable reason.

Then I forgot how to use a flash drive. I use flash drives on a regular basis, but yesterday that skill eluded me completely. I tried sticking the flash drive into two different computers, and nothing happened. So again I had to be rescued like a silly damsel in distress. Then I almost destroyed my expensive external hard drive, which I also normally know how to use very well. Then I almost drowned my Kindle in the toilet bowl (don't ask.) So I decided to go to sleep and stop wreaking havoc on everything I touched.

So if you think that autism is nothing but a daily bed of roses, please think again. Sometimes, it's a huge pain in the neck.

12 comments:

Pagan Topologist said...

Are you driving a car now? If so, congratulations! (If not, I don't quite understand parts of this post.)

Clarissa said...

No I don't drive. I left my husband in the car and went to the store. Then when I came out of the store, I had no idea where I'd left him. So I ran around feeling very confused and finally had to call him on the phone because I had no idea where the car was. Which he found very hard to believe. So I had to give a talk titled, 'OK, now let me repeat what I said before about autism.' :-)

Pagan Topologist said...

I sometimes forget where my car is in a large parking lot, too. I often write down some sort of landmark clue for myself. Some parking lots have letters and numbers marking different areas, which is very helpful to me.

Rimi said...

Interesting. I've often exhibited behaviour like this -- forgetting to do perfectly normal things I've done everyday, being logically able to comprehend but unable to reproduce/participate in certain social behaviours, and lately I keep forgetting basic everyday nouns like egg, street, lightbulb, and so on.

I've always thought I'm a "little odd", but now I'm wondering if it might be mild autism.

Clarissa said...

Have you considered taking the Aspie quiz? It's on the Asperger's page of this blog.

Just a suggestion. Nobody should be forced to take the quiz if they don't want to.

Clarissa said...

Here is the post with the Aspie test:

http://clarissasbox.blogspot.com/2010/03/aspergers-test.html

Anonymous said...

That sucks. I did not know these kind of stuff happened to autistic people.

I think I would go mad having to call people to "rescue" me.

Pagan Topologist said...

I took the quiz shortly after I found your blog. As I recall, I scored 146.

Rimi said...

Thank you, Clarissa, I'll certainly take a look.

KT said...

I did take the autism quiz and I failed (meaning that I'm not an aspie) but I do sometimes get into this mode myself, looking for keys, my car, and little pieces of clothing that I saw a few minutes earlier.

Clarissa said...

I love the use of the word "failed" in this context. :-)

Anonymous said...

I was a bit curious so I took the test, I got a score of 150.

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